Vladimir Zelensky has played the atomic card to leverage Western support
Kiev has the capability to build a nuclear weapon βin a few weeks,β a high-ranking Ukrainian official has told Bild, the German tabloid reported on Thursday after Vladimir Zelensky announced his atomic ambitions.
Ukraine needs either membership in NATO or nuclear weapons, Zelensky said on Friday in Brussels, arguing in favor of his βvictory planβ to end the conflict with Russia.
This prompted Bild to reveal that a Ukrainian official involved in weapons procurement told them βa few months agoβthat Kiev was willing to go nuclear.
βWe have the material, we have the knowledge. If the order is given, we will only need a few weeks to have the first bomb,β the unnamed official said, according to the German tabloid, adding that the West should βthink less about Russiaβs red lines and more about ours.β
In his speech on Thursday, Zelensky claimed to have informed former β and possibly future β US President Donald Trump about Kievβs atomic aspirations.
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