Russia-Ukraine war: 'Will turn Kyiv into giant melted spot' | WION

so let's start with the big story that we are tracking on VI this are the led by President Vladimir Putin Russian leaders are now issuing the most drastic threats to the West if it lifts its restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range Western weapons against Russia Vladimir Putin has warned that Russia in fact will be at war with the United States and the NATO military allines but also not ruling out exercising the nuclear option other Russian leaders have escalated the talk raising the question of where the Russia Ukraine war of course was is headed and what would be the humanitarian cost that it would entail take a look at this report close on the heels of the warning of a nuclear conflict that Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued to Nato newer threats are emerging for Ukraine from Russia former Russian president Dimitri medev says Russia could turn keev into a giant melted spot if the West permits the use of long range missiles medev warns that Moscow has formal grounds to use nuclear weapons after Ukraine's incursion into KK on the messaging app telegram he says Moscow could choose instead to use use new technologies that could reduce the Ukrainian Capital keave into a giant melted spot when its patience runs out the dire warnings come even as British prime minister KS Tama left talks in Washington on Friday night without any announcement on the question of allowing Ukraine to fire long range missiles into Russia we had a wide raing discussion about uh strategy in Ukraine of course in the Middle East and other parts of the world this wasn't a meeting about a particular capability that was why we got our heads down today it was to allow ourselves the space which we took the time which we took to have a stattic so that tactical decisions could be seen within the wi stratching it was we've had a very productive and we've come to a strong position I'm very pleased that we have this disc UK has however said it is no problem with Ukraine using it Storm Shadow missiles the West's dilemma is tar NATO is under immense pressure to support Ukraine especially as ke's front lines are showing signs of crumbling but in the face of Russia's belligerence an aggressive NATO would push the world closer to a direct NATO Russia conflict Putin has already warned of using the nuclear option other Russian ministers have called for a limited nuclear strike the threat of new destructive War Technologies add a new dimension in the wake of the fast emerging scenario that could quickly spiral into a human catastrophe Ukraine president zelinski is venting his frustration accusing the west of emboldening Putin reacting to the delay inv West allowing Ukraine permission to use long range arms zinsky says it's difficult to repeatedly hear we are working on this while Putin continues to burn down our cities and Villages he doesn't need anyone's approval P report weon world is one all right now to give us more perspective in terms of what of course is is happening in the Russia Ukraine war we're being joined by Mr hanu clink who's a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia he's joining his live on this broadcast Mr cling thank you very much indeed for joining us on this broadcast and let me in fact start by asking you about this statement that's been put forth by Dimitri medev where he said that Russia can turn Kev into a big melted spot if the West gives the green signal for the use of longrange weapons what do you think he's refering to any he says new technologies can be used to accomplish this well thank you very much for having me I mean we've seen over the last two and a half years since uh the February uh 2022 invasion of Ukraine uh that uh the rhetoric of the Russian Federation certainly reaches this height when they have uh encountered operational and tactical uh failures so for instance Ukraine's unexpected success over the last mon month or so and its incursion into the Russian Federation and around K I think has come as a black eye to Putin Medvedev and the rest of uh the cabal of leaders in Moscow um so I think on the one hand you have again the nuclear saber saber rattling that has been occurring periodically and uh I would imagine that another aspect of medvedev's threat May uh involve Hypersonic missiles or just for instance a a larger barrage of missiles and drones that are being supplied by the regimes in North Korea and Iran to uh to fuel the Russian war machine now uh Vladimir Putin in his statement said that the very essence of this war will change if Ukraine is given the goad to use long range weapons to strike into Russia do you think that the United States at this moment is willing to take that risk of escalation because when Biden and K stama met that you know Green signal that was expected from them did not happen well I think recent history has shown that the Biden Administration uh has been um reluctant to quote unquote escalate the conflict and has um the actions that Washington has taken has been an example of self-d deterrence if you will if you look at every major weapon system that the United States and its allies have supplied to Ukraine and I mean every major system uh there have been you you know peac M approaches to the delivery lots of strings attached caveats what the ukrainians can and cannot do with them and of course many many delays in the decision- making process and in the delivery cycle which of course has at at the end of the day resulted in uh Ukraine not being able to utilize these systems in the most effective matter to both defeat Russian aggression and to deter future Russian aggression so I think given the Biden administration's recent history given the fact that uh the United States finds itself in the midst of a presidential election um I would say I I have my doubts whether or not President Biden will allow the ukrainians to utilize the systems provided to the maximum effective ability of those systems all right right we'll have to leave it there thank you very much indeed Mr hanling for joining us and getting his D perspective there thank you for all the latest news download the Von app And subscribe to our YouTube channel