Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the world should be prepared for Russia to use nuclear weapons in its continuing bid to take over parts of neighboring Ukraine.
Zelensky told CNN anchor Jake Tapper, during an interview that aired Easter Sunday on “State of the Union,” that he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was fully capable of resorting to nuclear war — and more importantly, that he was willing to do so.
Tapper began with the news that a Russian warship, the Moskva, had sunk in the Black Sea — immediately prompting conflicting explanations from Ukraine and Russia. Ukrainian officials said that they hit the Moskva with missiles, but Russia insisted that a fire had caused the ship to sink.
“On Friday, the United States supported Ukraine’s account, with a senior defense official saying that it believes that two Ukrainian Neptune missiles hit the Russian warship in the Black Sea,” CNN reported.
Tapper turned the question to Zelensky then, saying, “The Moskva, the one that Ukrainian soldiers told to ‘f-off’ sank. The Russians say — and the Russians are liars — but the Russians say it sank on its own. Can you offer some clarity and evidence as to what happened to that ship?”
“We know that it is gone. For us it is a serious weapon against our country. That is why the fact that it sank is not a tragedy for us,” Zelensky replied through a translator. “I want you and everyone else to know that. The less weapons the Russian Federation who attacked our country has, the better it is for us, the less powerful they are. This is all, and it is the most important thing. And what happened to it? Time will tell.”
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Tapper and Zelensky went on to discuss the ongoing battle for the Donbas region, and the conversation turned to just how far Zelensky believed the Russians were willing to go in order to achieve their goals.
“The director of the CIA warned that he’s worried Putin might use a tactical nuclear weapon in this fight. Are you worried?” Tapper asked.
“Not only me. I think all of the world, all the countries have to be worried because you know it can be not real information, but it can be the truth,” Zelensky replied in English, noting that often the real difficulty was in determining what information was real and accurate.
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