The U.S. Sun, by Katie Davis and Will Stewart: One of Putin’s closest allies has threatened to unleash nuclear war on the West if Russia is defeated in Ukraine.
Ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev made the warning to Nato leaders as he appeared to urge them to halt sending weapons to Zelensky’s troops.
He posted on Telegram: “The defeat of a nuclear power in a conventional war may trigger a nuclear war.
“Nuclear powers have never lost major conflicts on which their fate depends.
“And this should be obvious to anyone. Even a Western politician with any trace of intelligence.”
Medvedev also issued a veiled threat to Nato leaders, saying they should their about the risks of their policy on helping Ukraine.
The country heads are due to meet at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday to talk about strategy and support for the West’s attempt to defeat Russia.
Medvedev, who served as president from 2008 to 2012, is now deputy head of Russia’s security council, which is led by Putin.
The Kremlin made clear that Medvedev’s remarks on nuclear war were in full accordance with Moscow’s nuke doctrine.
It comes amid claims Putin has ordered a batch of at least 21 new mobile crematoriums from China amid expectations of huge new Russian war losses.
The aim is to deploy them with the armed forces and hide the scale of deaths of mobilised troops from the public, according to a report.
Telegram channel General SVR warns that the Kremlin is ready for its toll of “irretrievable losses” as Russia faces another 100,000 deaths in just three months.
A video shows Russian-made mobile crematoriums of the kind already reportedly deployed by the army.
It claimed that the Russian dictator “is not embarrassed by the colossal losses” from the war he inflicted on Europe – but the scale is “disturbing” to ordinary people.
The channel said: “As a result, according to the president, the losses must be ‘smeared over time’, and the crematoriums have been ordered for this.”
Putin has been accused of using ill-equipped and badly trained draftees, often recruited from impoverished Russian regions, as “cannon fodder”, positioned on the frontline to avoid significant losses among his regular army.
It comes amid a report from VChK-OGPU Telegram channel that out of 270 prisoners recruited as Putin fighters from a penal colony in Bashkortostan region, only 30 are still alive.
A source said this “very accurately reflects the number of prisoners’ losses – a little more than ten per cent survive”.
As many as 40,000 prisoners have been recruited by Wagner private army, run by Putin crony Yevgeny Prigozhin in collusion with the GRU Russian military intelligence agency.
Pictures emerged of one of numerous graveyards where these dead fighters have been buried.
As his war continues to falter, the tyrant is allegedly preparing for a new offensive that could see 700,000 soldiers pour into Ukraine.
Kyiv has been warning over the winter that Putin’s forces will be gearing up for renewed attack in 2023.
It has been nearly 11 months since Mad Vlad invaded Ukraine – sending his forces pouring over the border to march on Kyiv.
But it was not the days-long “special military operation” Putin and his men hoped it would be.
And now more than 117,000 Russians are lying dead in the muddy battlefields of Ukraine.
The war has seen Vlad’s forces thrown back and any hopes of a quick victory have sunk to the bottom of the Black Sea.
But despite staggering losses – the Russian army is understood to be more than one million men strong, with another two million reservists who could called up.
And Putin’s defence boss Sergei Shoigu has announced plans to swell the number of active personnel to one and a half million from 2023.
With so many troops still ready to turned against Ukraine, there is still room for a major escalation by the Russians.
Putin’s future is now tied to his success or failure in the war – with rumours swirling around his health and his fears of a coup.
Prophetic Link:
“You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” Matthew 24:6