In the midst of the continuing conflict in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a threat of nuclear war.
The announcement comes as Russian troops conduct military exercises aimed at preparing for the use of tactical nuclear weapons.
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On today’s The briefing, we talked to Dr Keith Suter, former President of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, to find out how worried we should be now.
The conflict in Ukraine has now surpassed 800 days since Russia’s initial ground invasion, which was purportedly intended to last only ten days.
Dr Suter said Despite being smaller and less powerful than traditional nuclear weapons, tactical nuclear weapons would still pose a grave risk of catastrophic consequences if deployed.
“Tactical nuclear weapons are short-range nuclear weapons. So they’re designed to be used in the case of the Russian weapons, mainly within the European theatre,” he said.
Dr Suter also discussed the significant role that weather played in the war in Ukraine.
“The war is always affected by weather. And so you have periods when you can fight and periods when you can’t. So in the case of Ukraine, which has marvellous soil, when the rains come down, vehicles can’t move through all the mud. The mud is now drying out,” he added.
He said that the world should anticipate a new offensive from Russia against Ukraine at any moment, given that the terrain is much more conducive to such an invasion.
“The war is not going well for Ukraine. It hasn’t lost, but it’s not going well.”
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