On Monday, AlertsUSA subscribers were informed of a warning from Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that there is a "serious" risk of nuclear war over Ukraine, a statement the U.S. blasted as the “height of irresponsibility.”
In a wide-ranging interview broadcast on Russia's state-run Channel One, Lavrov invoked the possibility of the Ukraine war escalating into a nuclear conflict, despite the repeated insistence by the Kremlin that it would only use conventional weapons.
"The risks are very significant. I don't want them artificially inflated. The danger is serious, and real. It cannot be underestimated."
Invoking the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the U.S. and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war, Lavrov said that Moscow and Washington had understood the rules of conduct between the superpowers but now, "there are few rules left.”
View the English transcript from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs
SecDef Turns Up the Rhetoric
Lavrov’s comments came after U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters in Poland that Washington wants to see Russian military capabilities significantly weakened:
"We want to see Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country able to protect its sovereign territory. We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.
So it has already lost a lot of military capability, and a lot of its troops, quite frankly. And we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability."
Secretary of Defense Austin and Secretary of State Blinken were in Poland following a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
Previous Threats
Readers are reminded that on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated the following on national television:
"No matter who tries to stand in our way or all the more so create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history."
Then in March, amid a full-scale military assault on Ukraine, Putin ordered his country’s nuclear forces to move to the heightened alert status.
Target Those Supplying Arms to Ukraine?
This week the Kremlin warned it could target military sites in NATO countries which are providing arms to Ukraine.
According to Maria Zakharova, the Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman:
"Do we understand correctly that for the sake of disrupting the logistics of military supplies, Russia can strike military targets on the territory of those NATO countries that supply arms to the Kyiv regime? After all, this directly leads to deaths and bloodshed on Ukrainian territory."
Her words came after Britain's Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said that the UK backed Ukrainian air strikes on Russian infrastructure using weapons donated by Britain.
Protection for Finland and Sweden
On Thursday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Finland and Sweden could join the 30-nation military alliance "quickly", adding that if they decide to apply, NATO would offer some form of protection should Russia try to intimidate them in the "interim period".
“It’s their decision, but if they decide to apply, Finland and Sweden will be warmly welcomed, and I expect that process to go quickly.”
Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto has said it would be "useful" for Sweden and Finland to launch joint NATO membership bids, though no date has been publicly disclosed.
Readers are reminded that Russia has previously warned of nuclear weapons deployment if Sweden and Finland joined the US-led military organization, saying it would be forced to bolster its defenses in the region.
Invasion Progress
According to the UK Ministry of Defense, the Battle of Donbas in the far eastern side of the country remains Russia’s main strategic focus, in order to achieve its stated aim of securing control over the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. But due to strong Ukrainian resistance, Russian territorial gains have been limited and achieved at significant cost to Russian forces.
AlertsUSA cautions readers that the conflict in Eastern Europe has potential to get much worse, and accidental spillover or intentional incursion into neighboring NATO nations, is a possibility.
NUCLEAR EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS RESOURCES
In light of the war in eastern Europe directly involving one nuclear power (Russia), and by proxy, at least three others (the U.S., UK, and France), as well as the regular saber rattling by North Korea, the following free resources may prove useful in the coming months:
Nuclear War Survival Skills (Cresson Kearny, Oak Ridge National Lab - PDF)
This free book aims to provide a general audience with advice on how to survive conditions likely to be encountered in the event of a nuclear catastrophe, as well as encouraging optimism in the face of such a catastrophe by asserting the survivability of a nuclear war.
The Good News About Nuclear Destruction (Shane Connor, KI4U, Inc)
Planning Guidance for Response to a Nuclear Detonation (FEMA - PDF)
Design Guidance for Shelters and Safe Rooms (FEMA - PDF)
AlertsUSA continues to monitor the domestic and international threat environment around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers, via SMS messages to their mobile devices, of new alerts, warnings and advisories or any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant. |
