In order to protect its troops from being defeated by Western-made weapons, russia simply needs to withdraw them from Ukrainian territory. This statement was made by John Kirby, the Coordinator of the US National Security Council for Strategic Communications, in response to journalists' questions about moscow's nuclear threats, as reported by Voice of America.
"If putin and russian officials are concerned that their troops in Ukraine may be struck by weapons produced in other states, then the easiest way to avoid this is simply to withdraw their troops", - Kirby said during a briefing at the White House on May 6th.
However, according to Kirby, the US administration has not seen any real steps from russia regarding the potential use of nuclear weapons, despite aggressive rhetoric.
"For the leader of a major nuclear power, it is simply reckless and irresponsible to brandish a nuclear arsenal and hint at its potential use. Obviously, we are monitoring this closely now and have been doing so very carefully before. I can tell you that so far we have not seen anything, even despite the reckless rhetoric, that would cause us to change our position on strategic deterrence", - emphasized the White House official.
Matthew Miller, a representative of the US State Department, also stated that Washington currently sees no signs of russia potentially using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
"Russian nuclear rhetoric has been reckless and irresponsible throughout the conflict. Nevertheless, we have not seen any grounds for adjusting our own nuclear position in response to these statements, nor have we seen any signs that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine", - Miller told journalists during a briefing on Monday.
Earlier on Monday, official moscow stated that British Ambassador Nigel Casey had been summoned to the russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to express a protest note. This was related to previous statements made by UK Foreign Secretary James Cameron, suggesting that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could use weapons provided by London on the territory of russia. Cameron made these remarks during his visit to Kyiv on May 2nd.
In response to this statement, moscow said that it was ready to strike British military targets, both on Ukrainian territory and beyond.
As reported, russia stated that it would perceive F-16s in Ukraine as carriers of nuclear weapons.
Additionally, the kremlin announced that russian military forces would conduct exercises to practice the use of "non-strategic nuclear weapons".