Biden: Putin's talk about the possibility of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine a 'danger'

Moscow announces the end of the evacuation of civilians from Kherson and completes the mobilization of 300,000 reservists

Civilians evacuees from the city of Kherson gather at the railway station of the Dzhanko town in Crimea.

AFP

Moscow announced yesterday that the process of evacuating civilians from the Russian-occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine, which is under Ukrainian attack, has been "completed." The Ukrainian armed forces announced that they had shot down more than 300 suicide bombers used by Russia, while US President Joe Biden expressed doubts about what his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, said that he does not intend to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, stressing that Putin's talk about the possibility of using nuclear weapons is a "dangerous" ».

In details, the Russian authorities in Kherson said that the process of evacuating civilians from the area had been completed yesterday evening.

The head of the Crimean authorities, appointed from Moscow, Sergei Aksyonov, wrote in his account on "Telegram" Thursday evening, that "the process of organizing the transfer of residents ... towards safe areas in Russia has been completed."

"I am happy, because those who wanted to leave the area bombed by the Ukrainian armed forces, were able to do so, quickly and safely," Aksionov said on Telegram, posting a photo of him alongside the deputy director of the Russian presidential administration, Sergei Kiriyenko.

This comes as the Ukrainian military leadership indicated in its daily report, which was published yesterday, that "the so-called evacuation of the temporarily occupied lands in the Kherson region continues."

She said the Russian leadership in Kherson was trying to "hide the real losses of the soldiers" in order to "avoid creating panic."

Referring to Moscow's heavy losses, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said late Thursday evening that 23 of his fighters were killed in battles around Kherson this week, and dozens were wounded.

Speaking during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that was broadcast on state television, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Putin, "The task I set has been completed with the mobilization of 300,000 personnel.

There are no plans for additional measures.”

Shoigu said that out of the 300,000 soldiers included in the mobilization, 218,000 are still in training, while 82,000 recruits have been deployed in the conflict zone, including 41,000 recruits who were distributed to their units.

He added that the recruitment process for Ukraine's campaign in the future will depend on volunteers and professional soldiers, rather than mustering the millions more listed on the reserve force.

In turn, Putin said: “I want to thank everyone who joined the armed forces.

I thank you for this loyalty to duty, for this patriotism.”

In Kyiv, the Ukrainian armed forces announced that they had shot down more than 300 Shahed-136 suicide marches, used by Russia.

"Since last September 13, when the first suicide plane (Shahed-136) was shot down in Kobyansk in the Kharkiv region, we have so far shot down more than 300 drones of the same model," said Yury Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force Command.

A statement issued by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that Russia has lost 69,700 soldiers, including 480, the day before yesterday only, since the start of the Russian war on February 24.

In Washington, US President Joe Biden expressed doubts about what his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, said, that he did not intend to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

In a speech yesterday, Putin insisted that Russia did not threaten to use nuclear weapons and only responded to nuclear "blackmail" from Western leaders.

"If he doesn't have it, why does he keep talking about it?" Biden said in an interview with News Nation.

Why is he talking about the ability to use a tactical nuclear weapon?” He added that Putin’s approach was “very dangerous.”

Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly said in recent weeks that Russia could use nuclear weapons to protect its territorial integrity, statements that the West has interpreted as implicit threats to use these weapons to defend Russia-annexed areas of Ukraine.

In an earlier interview with CNN, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Russia might be considering using the so-called dirty bomb and was preparing an excuse to blame Ukraine.

But he added that the United States has not yet seen any indications that this is necessarily what is happening.

“Often they blame others for what they do themselves or are about to do,” Kirby said of Putin's comments.

So we have to take it seriously.”

For its part, the International Atomic Energy Agency is planning to send a monitoring mission to Ukraine this week, after Russian allegations that Kyiv plans to use the so-called "dirty bomb" that contains radioactive materials.

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi said that experts from the organization will conduct inspections at two sites in Ukraine "to detect any deviation in nuclear materials, and to ensure that there are no undeclared nuclear materials or activities."

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