Ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev says country will disintegrate without victory in Ukraine
- The deputy head of Russia’s National Security Council rejected Biden’s calls for Moscow to withdraw its troops, calling the US leader ‘senile’
- Medvedev accused the US of ‘megalomania’, spoke of being on the brink of a ‘world conflict’ and even threatened the use of nuclear weapons
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has rejected calls from US President Joe Biden for Russian troops to withdraw from Ukraine, saying his country would fall apart if it allowed such a move.
Ukraine countered by saying it expects to receive fighter jets from Nato allies soon, but the ferocity of Medvedev’s comments may alarm the West.
“If the US stops supplying weapons to the regime in Kyiv, then the war will end,” the deputy head of Russia’s National Security Council wrote on Wednesday on the Telegram news channel, implying Moscow could then crush Kyiv with a new offensive.
“If Russia ends the special military operation without a victory, then Russia will cease to exist, it will be torn to pieces,” Medvedev wrote.
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Biden reaffirms commitment to Ukraine in Poland after Putin suspends nuclear arms treaty with US
Russia launched the full-scale war against Ukraine last year on February 24.