Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not ruling out the possibility of his government authorizing the use of nuclear weapons if the country was faced with an "existential threat" amid its continued invasion of Ukraine.
The official made the remarks during an interview on Tuesday and comes nearly a month after Moscow's troops invaded its neighboring country. The West has repeatedly warned that the situation could escalate into a nuclear war if left unchecked.
Russia's Nuclear Weapons
Pekov's statements were made in English and were his answers when asked whether or not Putin was planning to use such destructive weapons. The spokesman said that Russia had a concept of "domestic security and its public."
In a further reference to Russia's security concept, Peskov said that there were no other reasons mentioned in that text. The statements come after last month when President Putin ordered the country's nuclear forces to be put on high alert amid the war. Russia's defense ministry said on Feb. 28 that it had placed its nuclear missile forces and Northern and Pacific fleets on enhanced combat duty, as per Reuters.
Furthermore, Peskov said that Putin has still not achieved his goal in its invasion of Ukraine and said that the advancements were going on "strictly in accordance with the plans and the purposes that were established beforehand."
According to The Denver Channel, the spokesman said that the Russian president demands that the invasion get rid of the "military potential of Ukraine." Moscow also said that it wanted to remove what is considered "nationalist battalions," with Putin demanding that Ukraine accept that Crimea is part of the mainland after it was annexed in 2014 and that Luhansk and Donetsk are independent states.
Defense Against Existential Threat
The remarks echo similar statements that President Putin made in February where he said that no matter who stood in the way of Russia, he will respond immediately to threats to the country. He added that there will be consequences that other nations have never seen in their history.
Peskov also repeated claims that Russia has only targeted military troops and equipment amid its invasion of Ukraine despite multiple reports of civilians being bombarded by Moscow's troops. Airstrikes have also been reported to target buildings that were sheltering ordinary Ukrainians.
One such incident comes after Kyiv authorities said on Monday that Russian forces occupying the Ukrainian city of Kherson opened fire on peaceful protesters. In a statement, the Ukrainian armed forces' press service said that Russian security forces ran up, started throwing stun grenades into the crowd, and shot their guns.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba posted a tweet with a video of the scene and said that the whole world should band together and stop Russia. He urged other nations to sanction them, isolate them, and hold war criminals to account.
At least one video recording showed a wounded and bleeding protester and the Ukrainian armed forces said that there was at least one injury in the incident but had no information on how many were actually hurt, the New York Post reported.
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