The arming of Ukraine with long-range missiles to strike Russian territory is the potential catalyst for Russia's Vladimir Putin striking back with a nuclear missile, according to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
"I am getting the impression — I say again that it is my opinion — that Americans are pushing Russians toward using the most terrifying weapon," Lukashenko said Friday, CNN reported.
"They arm Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy and his army and provide long-range missiles. Even missiles able to fly for 300 km [186 miles]."
Russian media has been reporting daily on drone strikes hitting targets in Russian territory as it builds a case Ukraine is taking the fight to Russia and outside of the occupied regions in southern and eastern Ukraine.
If Ukraine uses a U.S.-supplied long-range missile to strike Russia, Lukashenko warned it could elicit a nuclear weapon response.
"One such attack deep into the Russian territory and the response will be colossal; otherwise, why do we need these [nuclear] weapons for?" Lukashenko said, according to CNN.
Ukraine has made promises to the U.S. to use a long-range missile only to defend its own territory, but it is under the pressure of war and territorial defense that a preemptive strike against a Russian military installation across the border would be tempting.
The escalations of war might ultimately lead Putin to "take out the red button and put it on the table" as a de-escalatory threat.
The Biden administration might have overplayed its weapon supply to Ukraine, "because they are across the ocean," according to Lukashenko, who suspects President Joe Biden is longing for a decisive Ukraine victory to boost his reelection hopes.
"Because of the political situation, this war doesn't add to the authority of Biden and the American government," Lukashenko said. "He [Biden] is already losing according to all the polls. He needs some kind of victory. You need to bring something to the table in order to win."
Lukashenko's nuclear warning echoed one made by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev last week.
"These morons are actively pushing us toward World War III," Medvedev said.
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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