Russian state television discusses nuclear attack on Ukraine

A Russian propagandist spoke on state television about nuclear strikes against Ukraine while the country is currently waging war against its western neighbor.

Sergei Mardan, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, expressed his thoughts on a poll that found that a third of Russians would not oppose a nuclear strike against Ukraine.

Previously, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov had reiterated that the war in Ukraine could prompt Moscow to change its nuclear doctrine, which currently only allows the use of nuclear weapons if the country perceives a threat to its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Putin has said he does not need nuclear weapons to achieve his goals in Ukraine, which he invaded in February 2022. But he also warned that Kyiv’s attacks on Russia with longer-range weapons supplied by the United States and other Western states could lead to a nuclear escalation.

A clip of Mardan’s remarks was posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday by Julia Davis, founder of the watchdog organization Russia Media Monitor.

Mardan “referenced a poll that found that a third of Russians would agree with a nuclear attack on Ukraine,” Davis wrote in the post. “Mardan disagrees – not on humanitarian grounds, but because of his genocidal, imperial belief that Ukraine does not exist and is part of Russia.”

In the clip, Mardan said the number of Russians who would not oppose a nuclear strike was “incredibly high,” but many were also afraid of nuclear war.

“In fairness, it must be said that the Russian population as a mass has not lost its mind and I believe it will not lose it,” Mardan said, according to the Russian Media Monitor translation.

“People think before they give their answer. They think about the meaning of a question that is being asked to them. Of course, there is also a collective immunity, the fear of nuclear war in any form.”

He said he understood the reasons why so many support a nuclear strike.

“I understand very well the reasoning of these people, including those on the Internet and the comments they send me. They say, ‘Yes, of course. Why should we sacrifice our people when we can just detonate a nuclear bomb?'” Mardan said.

“But then the question arises: Who exactly should we attack with nuclear weapons? Where should we launch a massive nuclear strike?”

He continued to speak out against bombing Ukraine because it was “part of Russia” and questioned whether people would support nuclear strikes on Russian cities if violence broke out there.

“The regions of Kharkiv, Dnipro, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Kyiv and Chernihiv all belong to Russia,” he said.

“Would you suggest in a fit of delirium that if there were riots tomorrow, if extremists did something crazy in Yaroslavl or Kostroma, you wouldn’t suggest using tactical nuclear weapons against Yaroslavl or Kostroma, right? That’s right! But what about this? That’s something different. No, my dears, that’s nothing different.”