(LibertySociety.com) – Former adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Oleksii Arestovych, said during a June 22 interview that Ukraine can create its own nuclear weapons “within a short time.” He told podcast host Mark Feygin that Kyiv would take this step if Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to use nukes in the war. Arestovych, who also served as an officer in the Ukrainian military intelligence service, said he has information that other non-nuclear nations are planning to do the same.
When asked about how long it would take for Ukraine to develop its nuclear weapon, Arestovych said this could happen in less time than people think. However, he said that most of this time will be spent in obtaining enriched uranium before becoming capable of creating nuclear weapons. He then suggested that President Zelensky has already made some moves on this matter.
According to different reports, Arestovych has been one of the most controversial members of the Zelensky government. He was forced to resign back in January after he suggested on a Feygin episode that defense forces from Ukraine’s aviation were responsible for the death of dozens of people. When asked why he said that, Arestovych explained that these forces destroyed a Russian rocket in Dnipro without evacuating civilians in the zone. The Ukrainian government denied these accusations on numerous occasions.
Over the last few months, the Russian government has denied it would use nuclear weapons against Ukraine, even when pro-Kremlin propagandists have called for their use. Despite these denials, Putin announced on June 17 he was deploying tactical nukes to Belarus, which is one of the few nations that still support Russia in the war.
About this move from the Kremlin, US President Joe Biden denounced this deployment as an “absolutely irresponsible” act. The commander-in-chief then said during a June 19 meeting with a group of donors in California that the threat of Putin executing a nuclear attack was “real.”
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