Medvedev warns Russia’s defeat in Ukraine could unleash nuclear war

Moscow, Jan 19 (EFE).- Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday warned the West of nuclear war if Russia faced defeat in Ukraine.

“If a nuclear power loses a conventional war that could trigger a nuclear war,” Medvedev, who is currently the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on Telegram.

“Nuclear powers haven’t lost major conflicts that were pivotal for their destiny. It has to be obvious to any person, even to a Western politician,” he said.

Medvedev’s remarks came as Kyiv allies are planning to announce fresh major military aid that could include more weapons and ammunition at Friday’s Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at the Ramstein military air base in western Germany.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the West to send more heavy weapons and armoured vehicles after a Russian missile strike in the city of Dnipro killed dozens.

Meanwhile on the front line, Russian Wagner mercenary group founder Evgeny Prigozhin said Thursday that units under his command had captured the village of Klishchiivka in the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

“We can safely say that the village of Klishchiivka which is one of Bakhmut’s important suburbs is fully under the control of Wagner Group units,” he said.

Prigozhin said that his private military group took over the village without any help from other Russian units, noting that “fierce fighting is still ongoing around Klishchiivka.”

Earlier this week, the Russian defense ministry said its soldiers had taken full control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Soledar, but Kyiv has denied such claims.EFE

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