World War III would involve nuclear weapons and be destructive: Russian Foreign Minister

By Team Newsable | First Published Mar 2, 2022, 5:13 PM IST

Russia was ready for sanctions but did not expect the West to target its athletes, journalists and representatives of the cultural sector, he added.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday warned that the third World War would be ‘nuclear and destructive’ and claimed Russia would not allow Ukraine to acquire nuclear weapons. He said that if a third World War were to take place, it would involve nuclear weapons and be destructive, the RIA news agency reported.

Lavrov further said that Russia, which launched what it calls a special military operation against Ukraine last week, would face a “real danger” if Kyiv acquired nuclear weapons.

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Russia was ready for sanctions but did not expect the West to target its athletes, journalists and representatives of the cultural sector, he added.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its seventh day on Wednesday, with fighting intensifying in Kyiv and in other big cities. Russia’s defence ministry said it was planning to strike targets used by Ukraine’s security service.

Meanwhile, Russia is gathering troops closer and closer to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital’s mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote in an online post on Wednesday. “We are preparing and will defend Kyiv!,” he added. “Kyiv stands and will stand.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said almost 6,000 Russians were killed in six days of the war, according to a Reuters report. This comes amidst news of Russian airborne troops landing in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv and Russian military’s claim that it has taken control of the southern city of Kherson.

In announcing the invasion itself, Putin pointedly referred to Russia’s standing as “one of the most powerful nuclear powers in the world”.

The Russian president seemed to reserve the nuclear option as a response to a “direct attack on our country”. But he warned ominously that those who try “to hinder us” in Ukraine could face “consequences greater than any you have faced in history”. Russia, it was feared, might also take preemptive measures.

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