Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Russia is beginning to prepare its citizens for the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons in the war against his country.
On Friday, Zelensky said: “They begin to prepare their society. That’s very dangerous."
He then went on to claim however that Russian President, Vladimir Putin, is not yet prepared to use the nuclear weapons, but is feeling sceptical about whether or not they will actually do so.
The Ukrainian President continued to say: “They are not ready to do it, to use it. But they begin to communicate. They don’t know whether they’ll use or not use it. I think it’s dangerous to even speak about it."
Speaking in English at the president's office in Kyiv, President Zelensky in full said: "They begin to prepare their society. That's very dangerous.
"They are not ready to do it, to use it. But they begin to communicate. They don't know whether they'll use or not use it. I think it's dangerous to even speak about it."
Then, through a translator, he said in Ukrainian: "What we see is that Russia's people in power like life, and thus I think the risk of using nuclear weapons is not that definite as some experts say, because they understand that there is no turning back after using it, not only the history of their country, but themselves as personalities."
Meanwhile, the leader has also denied claims that he called for a preemptive nuclear strike against Russia last week.
In an address to the Australian Lowy Institute, he made on Thursday, he called for "preventive strikes, preventive action" on the war and Putin, adding that “waiting for the nuclear strikes first” was an unwise move.
But Zelensky stated that the remark was mistranslated to imply that he would support such action.
He went on to clarify to the BBC that the 'preventive measure' he was speaking about was actually a reference to nonviolent moves - such as imposing additional sanctions against Russia.
Clarifying what he meant in his speech to the Lowy Institute, he said to the publication : “You must use preventive kicks, not attacks".
However, after the President's remarks, Russian figureheads condemned what they saw as Zelensky’s call for violence.
In fact, Kremlin spokesperson and Putin's crony, Dmitry Peskov, called the comment “an appeal to start another world war”.
But Zelensky hit back at this, and said that this characterisation and misunderstanding was only another example of Russian attempts to “retranslate” his words into “other directions".
He said: "They [the Russians] did their way, how it's useful for them, and began to retranslate it in other directions."
The leader then went on to urge Western allies of Ukraine, together with the members of the G7, to implement stricter sanctions on Putin and his cronies, adding that they might play a part in driving Russia back.
Zelensky said: “The world can stop urgently the actions of Russian occupiers.
“The world can implement the sanction package in such cases and do everything to make them leave the nuclear power plant."
The interview was conducted hours after US President Joe Biden said that Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons had brought the world closer to "Armageddon" than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis during the Cold War.
In light of this, Zelensky said that Russia's threats were a "risk for the whole planet", with Moscow already making "a step" by occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant - Europe's largest nuclear station, which Putin is trying to turn into his property.
Currently, about 500 Russian troops occupy the plant, Zelensky said, although he noted that Ukrainian staff still operate it.
President Zelensky said: "The world can stop urgently the actions of Russian occupiers.
"The world can implement the sanction package in such cases and do everything to make them leave the nuclear power plant."
And when asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin could survive the war if Ukraine was victorious, Zelensky responded, “I don’t care.”
Zelensky said of Putin: “He’s afraid of his people.
“Because only those people are capable of replacing him nowadays. Take away his power. Give it to someone else.”
