A Russian official responded to Washington's warning to Moscow about the use of nuclear weapons, at a time when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced fierce battles on the front line with Russian forces.

The head of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, Leonid Slutsky, called on Washington officials to familiarize themselves with Russia's nuclear doctrine, before issuing warnings to Russia.

Slutsky said, according to what was reported by the Russian RIA Novosti agency, that it is not the first time that the United States has talked about the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine. American specialists should study Russia's nuclear doctrine better before issuing warnings through the media.

According to military experts, the Russian nuclear combat doctrine means resorting to escalation in order to de-escalate the opponent.


Earlier, Washington warned Russia of the catastrophic consequences of the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine and threatened a firm response, in continuation of the continuous threats since the start of the Russian operation in Ukraine, which has entered its eighth month.

"hollow" threats

While British Prime Minister Liz Truss considered Russian President Vladimir Putin's recent threats "hollow" and called on the West not to heed them, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he takes Russia's nuclear threats seriously and does not think Putin is cheating.

"Maybe yesterday it was a hoax. Now, it could be a reality," Zelensky told CBS News in an interview Sunday.

Zelensky's comments come at a time when Moscow is rushing to complete referendums in 4 Ukrainian regions with the aim of making them part of Russia.


It is noteworthy that the referendum on joining Russia began Friday in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, as well as in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.

The vote will continue for 5 days until tomorrow, Tuesday, and Moscow is likely to have a positive result in favor of the secession of the four regions from Ukraine.

Putin said earlier that Moscow will view the Ukrainian attacks on these regions as attacks on Russian soil, and will use all means to protect them.

fierce battles

In a related context, the Ukrainian president said on Sunday that fierce fighting is taking place with Russian forces in many places along the front line, and some of them have achieved what he described as "positive results" for Kiev.

"This is the Donetsk region, this is the Kharkiv region. This is the Kherson region, and also the Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia regions," Zelensky added in his video night speech.

"We have achieved positive results in several directions," he said.

On the ground, Russian media also announced the killing of the pro-Russian former member of the Ukrainian parliament, Alexei Zhuravko, and his bodyguard, in a Ukrainian bombing of a hotel in Kherson.

The pro-Russian Kherson authorities said that the hotel was targeted based on intelligence from NATO, and that the aim of the attack was to abort the referendum and intimidate journalists.


For its part, the Zaporozhye authorities said that the Ukrainian forces bombed a granary in the city of Tokmak.

In the south, Kyiv reported a Russian attack on Odessa with Iranian drones, one of which was shot down.

Al-Jazeera correspondent reported the continuation of Russian bombing of the cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk in the Donbass region.

The cities of Bakhmut and Soledar also witnessed a renewal of military operations in their vicinity.

And field sources reported that the Ukrainian army made new progress on the Lyman front, and took control of two additional towns.

For its part, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had thwarted an attempt by the Ukrainian forces to target the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant with eight booby-trapped marches.

Russian defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that all Ukrainian drones were shot down outside the station's grounds, accusing Kyiv of continuing the attack on the station's perimeter.

In the Kharkiv region, the Ukrainian air defenses shot down a Russian Air Force fighter "Sukhoi 30" with a surface-to-air missile.

The pictures show that the Russian plane was flying at a very low altitude;

What made it easy to shoot it down with a short-range, shoulder-fired "Stinger" missile, the United States had supplied Ukraine in large numbers.

In Odessa, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Military Regional Command said that the city was subjected to a new attack by Iranian-made "Shahid-136" suicide marches, belonging to the Russian Air Force, and that the Ukrainian forces succeeded in shooting down an Iranian-made march.