Sentry Staff
The United States and its Allies and Partners called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent nuclear saber-rattling irresponsible.
As Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with world leaders at the September 2024 United Nations General Assembly in New York City, Putin escalated his rhetoric against the West, declaring changes to his country’s nuclear doctrine will allow Russia to consider any conventional attack supported by a nuclear power as a joint attack, allowing Russia to use nuclear weapons in response.
Zelenskyy addressed the General Assembly and has been lobbying heavily to lift restrictions prohibiting Ukraine from using longer-range missiles supplied by Allies against targets deeper inside Russia. Putin “has broken so many international norms and rules,” Zelenskyy said during his address. “We do not have a different version of the U.N. charter for different parts of the world.”
Zelenskyy also said Ukrainian intelligence revealed that the Kremlin is planning to attack Ukraine’s critical nuclear power facilities before winter. Russia has destroyed all of Ukraine’s thermal power plants and a large part of the country’s hydroelectric capacity, Zelenskyy said, and Russian troops have occupied the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since March 2022.
“It’s at risk of a nuclear incident,” Zelenskyy said. “This is the major source of radiation danger in Europe, possibly in the world.”
World leaders quickly responded to Putin’s latest threat.
“It’s totally irresponsible,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in an interview with MSNBC. “I think many in the world have spoken clearly about that when (Putin) has been rattling the nuclear saber, including China, in the past. Especially to do that now, while the world’s gathered [at the General Assembly] talking about the need for more disarmament, nonproliferation.”
Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called Putin’s comments an attempt to stop Allies from supporting Ukraine, but previous similar threats have gone unheeded.
“This is part of a pattern of nuclear rhetoric and nuclear messaging we have seen from Moscow, from President Putin, since the start of this war,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, noting that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unprovoked and illegal. “According to international law, every nation has the right to defend itself. That’s part of international law. It’s enshrined in the U.N. charter. The right to self-defense includes the right to hit legitimate military targets on the territory of the aggressor.”
Polish President Andrzej Duda, who attended the General Assembly, called Putin’s threats “nothing new.”
“Vladimir Putin, as well as his generals, are perfectly aware that the first to use nuclear weapons is cursed,” Duda said. “They will never get rid of this responsibility if they use nuclear weapons. Not even to the slightest extent. Never. The world will never forgive them for that.”
Washington announced it will send Ukraine an undisclosed number of medium-range cluster bombs and an array of rockets, artillery and armored vehicles in a military aid package totaling about $375 million, plus a $2.4 billion long-term assistance package that includes a Patriot missile battery, The Associated Press reported.
“The United States is committed to Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s brutal aggression,” Blinken said in a statement. “We will deploy this new assistance as quickly as possible to help Ukraine protect its territory and its people.”