A prominent Russian nationalist has called for nuclear weapons to be used by Russia against Ukraine.
Konstantin Malofeyev, one of Russia’s most influential businessmen and Putin supporters, criticized Moscow’s conduct of the war on Thursday, June 18th. His Telegram message accused the Russian military of fighting “gentlemanly with half force.”
The comments came in response to Kyiv’s largest drone attack to date on the Russian capital. Malofeyev (a devout Orthodox Christian) proposed the use of “the nuclear weapons that our ancestors developed and stockpiled while mobilizing the entire power of the country for precisely this purpose—to win.”
After Kyiv’s all-out assault using UAVs, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported that 555 Ukrainian drones had been shot down over various regions of the country. Nearly 200 were intercepted on their approach to Moscow alone.
Malofeyev’s approach, where war “means victory at any price,” would represent a serious escalation.
