Russia Warns of Nuclear World War if Ukraine helped with Nuclear Arms, US Bans Russia from its Airspace
Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, March 2: Russia claims to have gained control of the regional centre of Kherson in the south and is learnt to have air-dropped paratroopers on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, even as its foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in an apparent warning to the world to stay off the war zone cautioned that the third world war if any would involve nuclear weapons and would be destructive.
As the assault on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv continued on the seventh day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Wednesday, experts said Russia could be changing its war plans and is believed to landed paratroopers in Kharkiv to take hold of the city from inside even as its 64-kilometre long military convoy of battle tanks and other armoured vehicles neared the capital city of Kyiv but at a considerably slow speed. The experts believe the Russia’s idea was to take seize of the capital city from all sides to topple the President Volodymyr Zelensky government and install a Moscow-friendly regime in Ukraine.
Even as it said it would be ready for resuming talks with Ukraine by Wednesday evening to work out a ceasefire, Lavrov’s warning about a nuclear war if the western world interfered has stunned the world. Lavrov said on Wednesday that if a third World War were to take place, it would involve nuclear weapons and be destructive. Claiming that Russia was forced to launch a “special military operation” against Ukraine, Lavrov said Ukraine would face a “real danger” if Kyiv acquired nuclear weapons, a clear warning to the western world not to help Ukraine with nuclear armaments.
Russian bombardments of Ukrainian cities continued, with video posted on social media showing heavily damaged buildings around the second city of Kharkiv. “While he may make gains on the battlefield, he will pay a continuing high price over the long run,” U.S. President Joe Biden said at his State of the Union address. Straying from the prepared text, Biden added “He has no idea what’s coming.” He did not elaborate.
Biden said “dictators who do not pay a price for their aggression” cause more chaos. According to excerpts released on Tuesday ahead of his first State of the Union address, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine was premeditated and unprovoked.
In a video address on Wednesday, Ukraine president Zelensky said nearly 6,000 Russians had been killed in the first six days of Moscow’s invasion, and that the Kremlin would not be able to take his country with bombs and air strikes. Biden further ratcheted up sanctions on Moscow, joining the European Union and Canada in banning Russian planes from U.S. airspace. He also said the Justice Department would seek to seize the yachts, luxury apartments and private jets of wealthy Russians with ties to Putin.
As the US and the western nations further tightened an economic noose around Russia, the World Bank has announced that it was preparing a $3 billion aid package for Ukraine which would include at least $350 million in immediate funds.
Ukraine alleged that six days after it failed to gain tangible control of any part of Ukraine, Russia had started targeting civilian and administrative buildings in major cities. Russia’s defence ministry has urged civilian residents to flee.
Russian military claims to have taken control of Ukraine’s Kherson. “The Russian divisions of the armed forces have taken the regional centre of Kherson under full control,” defence ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in televised remarks.
Russian Army paratroopers landed in Kharkiv and Ukrainian Army said there were clashes as soon as Russia’s airborne troops landed. Kharkiv, a largely Russian-speaking city near the Russian border, has a population of around 1.4 million.
As Russia facing stiff resistance from Ukraine stepped up its attack on its cities, Zelensky has sought help from the US saying it was important to stop the “aggressor as soon as possible.” Zelensky has asked the European Union to “prove” it is with Ukraine by accepting it as a member.
The European Union banned Russian state media outlets RT and Sputnik from broadcasting in the bloc while banning “certain” Russian banks from the SWIFT bank messaging system Tuesday. The United Nation’s International Court of Justice says it will hold public hearings on March 7 and 8 over Ukraine’s allegations of “genocide” by Russia.
More than 677,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion, the UN’s refugee agency has said, with the number rising rapidly. Media reports said four people have been killed and another nine wounded during shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, where Russian forces landed on Wednesday, the emergencies services said.
The US President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian aircrafts from using US airspace during his State of the Union speech. Canada and several other European nations have already closed their airspace to Russian planes following Ukraine’s invasion.
Russian invasion has resulted in several sanctions, trade restrictions and financial penalties. Apple and Nike have both announced plans to halt product sales in Russia. China, however, has refused to join the United States and European governments in imposing financial sanctions on Russia, the country’s bank regulator said on Wednesday. China is a major buyer of Russian oil and gas and the only major government that has refrained from criticizing Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
Beijing opposes the sanctions, said Guo Shuqing, the chairman of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission. “We will not join such sanctions, and we will keep normal economic, trade and financial exchanges with all the relevant parties,” Guo said at a news conference. “We disapprove of the financial sanctions, particularly those launched unilaterally, because they don’t have much legal basis and will not have good effects.”
Russia, meanwhile, has defended bombing of the Ukrainian TV tower which forced the Ukrainian Television channels to go off the air on Tuesday. Russia’s Defence Ministry claimed on Wednesday that Russian aviation disabled the main TV tower in Ukraine’s capital in an airstrike but said the attack did not hit any residential buildings.
Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov did not address deaths from Tuesday’s strike or damage to the adjacent Babi Yar memorial to Kyiv’s Holocaust victims. He said the attack was aimed at disabling Ukraine’s ability to stage “information attacks.” Ukraine’s State Service for Emergency Situations, however, claimed that the strikes on the TV tower killed five people and left five more wounded. Ukrainian television stations briefly went down after the strike but were later restored.
Meanwhile, in Delhi the government said Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has spoken to the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Slovak Republic and Poland regarding safety and facilitation of evacuation of Indian nationals from Ukraine” and all efforts were being made to bring back all the Indians stuck in Ukraine. Of the estimated 20,000 Indian nationals in Ukraine, 30% have already reached India and another 30% are in neighbouring countries, said the government.
