Quote:Russian physicist has urged President Vladimir Putin in a letter to strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons to speed up the outcome of the war and cut off supply routes that facilitate the transport of aid from Western nations.
A copy of the letter sent by Anatoly Volyntsev, physicist and professor at Perm State University, to the Russian leader was obtained by independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta. The publication then conducted a sit-down interview with Volyntsev about the letter's contents.
Putin's war in Ukraine, now in its third year, has intensified in recent days after Kyiv launched a surprise incursion into Russia's Kursk region on August 6, seizing nearly as much territory as Moscow has captured in Ukraine since the start of the year. Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky has said Kyiv is now in control of about 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Kursk.
Newsweek has contacted Ukraine's Foreign Ministry for comment by email.
Ties between Washington and Moscow have become increasingly strained over Putin's decision to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russian officials have routinely accused NATO of being complicit in the war by providing Kyiv with aid and weapons.
Volyntsev told Novaya Gazeta that he told Putin to consider the use of nuclear weapons in the war "to achieve all goals faster," given that the conflict has been raging for two and a half years.
"The situation at the front has become so bogged down and drawn out," he said, adding that Moscow has failed to carry out any "major breakthrough military actions."
While Russia has the advantage, "we are moving quite slowly," the physicist said.
"The [Russian] people have a question: when will we finally finish and achieve what we wanted?" he asked. "Secondly, we have to endure terrorist attacks on Russian soil, and these attacks are organized, in fact, by the West, with the help of Western weapons, with the help of their intelligence resources, in fact with the direct participation of the collective West. And we do not respond. And here the people have a question: why not respond properly, we are a nuclear power?"
Volyntsev proposed using nuclear weapons to strike Ukraine's Beskydy Tunnel, a rail route in the Lviv region that is reportedly used to transport Western weapons used by Ukraine's Armed Forces.
He said it would be "very difficult" to destroy with conventional weapons, given that tunnels are "the most reliable bomb shelters."
The destructive power of nuclear weapons is much greater, the physicist said.
Volyntsev suggested using "small hydrogen bombs" to conduct a "gentle nuclear strike" on the tunnel "in order to block the main supply routes."
"Yes, some radioactivity will be induced. But this is an option that does not leave a large radioactive contamination of the atmosphere and load on the soil," he said. "Yes, there will be casualties…but everything can be done with minimal destruction."
Volyntsev described the conflict as it stands as "a war of attrition."
"Without Western assistance, everything would have ended long ago. How can this Western assistance be cut off?" he asked. "It is necessary to block the flow of weapons, other materials and equipment that allow the Ukrainian regime to exist."
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I wonder if Russia has the same exotic nuclear weapons technology as the US? That being a Hydrogen bomb which is claimed to be 99.9% Clean. Authorized, developed & tested under JFK in 1962. This gives the frightening connotation that nuclear war could be won. 60 years later and I'm sure they have it down to tactical size.
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Oh dear, this could be a deliberate "leak", but nevertheless...
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"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." – Thomas Sowell