Is Russia Planning a Nuclear Attack on Ukraine?
Amid highly dramatic tensions between Ukraine and Russia, President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian nuclear deterrent forces and its Defence Minister to be put on high alert.
This is bringing people back to the Cold War era when citizens were taking cover of tables and chairs anticipating nuclear attacks. Russia is reminding Ukraine and its allies what it is capable of.
But the question remains deplorable, is there going to be a nuclear war?
According To Some Un-Verified Sources And West Media, Russia Is Planning A Nuclear Attack On Ukraine
The Russia-Ukraine crisis-
In 2014, after the annexation of Crimea, the Russo-Ukrainian crisis began and has emerged in the form of a full-fledged war. Russia started the annexation of Donbas, a state internationally recognized as a part of Ukraine, by sending military assistance to the separatist groups present there.
It must be noted here that when the Soviet Union split up, the people of Donetsk and Luhansk still recognized themselves as Russians. The majority of the population in that region speaks Russian and follows Russian culture and tradition. Vladimir Putin believes that Donbas is an inseparable part of Russia.
Some sources believe that while many are favouring Ukraine out of moral empathy, it was Ukraine that kept instigating Russia into a war by forcefully annexing the Russian occupied state of Donbas.
The current situation-
On 24 February 2022, Russia waged war on Ukraine. Many major powers strictly condemned the move and warned Russia of financial attacks by putting hefty sanctions.
Today Vladimir Putin addressed the media and said that it has put its nuclear deterrent forces on high alert.
The news spread immediately following anticipation of a nuclear war.
UK Defence Minister Ben Wallace warned that the Kremlin’s intentions are going in the wrong direction.
The Russian authority said that the statement was made in response to the threat from NATO. It must, however, be noted here that two weeks ago NATO made a diplomatic statement which stated that NATO will not stand against Russia in the war but following moral obligations, it would do everything possible to prevent the war.
Every year Russia carries out its Intercontinental ballistic missile drills from the air, water and ground during fall. This drill is known as ‘Thunder’. But this year Russia is doing it early.
The Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelenskyy said that Russia is doing it to build up ‘psychological pressure’ on the Ukrainian citizens.
It is more than obvious that Russia has done this as a show of strength against NATO and the US. Neither of them stands any chance against the Russian nuclear power consisting of 6257 missiles as opposed to 5600 missiles in America.
Why does Russia want Ukraine?
Russia and Ukraine were once the greatest allies. They were both a part of the Soviet Union. But when the Union split up, Russia emerged as the biggest power while Ukraine stood in second place. However, all the nuclear arsenals had gone into the share of Ukraine. In 1994, both the countries signed an agreement according to which, Ukraine handed over the Nuclear plants to Russia in exchange for a guarantee that the latter would respect Ukraine’s sovereignty, which is not happening.
Although Ukraine claimed on maintaining friendly relations with Russia, it kept going against the latter’s policies.
Donbas shares its borders with Russia and the people there associate themselves with the Russian culture. But Ukraine has been known to suppress all the demands of letting Donetsk and Luhansk be a part of Russia. This instigated Russia to initiate a war. In fact, since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, both countries have been in a state of the cold war and cyber attacks.
Ukraine started going West by accepting deals with the European Union. Although Vladimir Putin tried to bribe the then President to not accept the European trade deal, the next President did it, triggering the already escalated tension between the two countries.
The third reason could be the Ukrainian attempts to join NATO despite warnings from Russia. It must be noted that Ukraine and the US once were known to be arch enemies. But owing to the infamous Cold War, the latter joined in the support of Ukraine as a show of opposition to Russia. NATO approached Ukraine several times to join it and so did the latter but Vladimir Putin made sure that this doesn’t happen.
These are the major reasons why the Russo-Ukrainian war started.
What will happen if Russia does start the nuclear war?
Nuclear weapons are highly deadly and have the potential to kill thousands of people at a time. Russia is the biggest Nuclear power in the world. It towers the western powers by having 6257 missiles. No country or organization has the power to oppose Russia in the war. If the war starts, it can result in world War 3, which would be far worse than the infamous event of 6th August 1945, i.e., the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
However, the Russian media resources have stated that Russia has agreed to have a diplomatic peace talk with Ukraine in Belarus.
