WHEN RUSSIAN PRESIDENT Vladimir Putin launched an unprovoked war against Ukraine this week, he did so with a warning that any interference from the West would be met with a response “never seen” in history. The implied nuclear threat has little if any precedent over the last several decades, and while the Kremlin is far more likely to unleash cyberattacks, it was a chilling indication of how far Putin may be willing to escalate.
But first, let’s talk about Zelensky’s recent speech. In a speech earlier Friday, as Russian troops were entering Kyiv from the north, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky urged citizens to resist the invasion and told the military to “stand strong.”
Zelensky also told EU leaders that “this might be the last time you see me alive” as he requested more help, per Axios, putting down rumors that he had fled the country. “We are here. We are in Kyiv. We are defending Ukraine,” Zelensky said.
While Ukraine’s president was urging his European and Western allies to do more and to “act without delay,” reports the BBC, Vladimir Putin was giving one of the most bizarre speeches of his 22 years as Russia’s leader.
The Guardian reports that the Russian leader was “visibly angry” during a televised address in which he described the country’s leaders as a “gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis” who have “taken hostage the entire Ukrainian people.”
Putin Threatens The World
The speech seemed to be more like one from the Second World War, where Putin appears to be spending more of his time lately, as he launches the kind of broad military offensive not seen in Europe for nearly 70 years.
Putin also spoke of his ultimate goals in the invasion, meaning a regime change in Kyiv, toppling the government of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and replacing it with one of his own choosing.
Putin has also accused Ukraine of installing missiles and other heavy weaponry in civilian buildings and using residents as human shields, which he said was based on advice from foreign – particularly US – advisers, according to the BBC.
However, global human rights group Amnesty International said it was Russia, not Ukraine, that was showing “a blatant disregard for civilian lives”.
The charity said that Putin’s claim of precise strikes on military targets was false, and Russia was “using ballistic missiles and other explosive weapons with wide area effects in densely populated areas, inluding hospitals,” and this “can constitute war crimes.”
It is believed that the bizarre, and sometimes irrational way Putin is talking is a sign that he is living in the past – back when Russia as we knoiw it today, was the Soviet Union. And from the number of Russians protesting the Ukraine invasion, it appears likely that they don’t want to return to that period any more than Ukraine wants to be under Putin’s control.
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