Statkevich: Ukraine can respond with a "dirty bomb" to a Russian nuclear strike

"Between the Russian Federation and Ukraine, there is an arms race, an important part of which is a competition in the effectiveness of air attack means (AAM). Primarily, this competition concerns drones and ballistic missiles," writes the politician.

Thanks to a flexible and efficient defense industry and unhindered access to the international components market, as well as the possibility of using the "Starlink" space satellite network for guidance, Ukraine has an advantage in the drone race. I believe that its advantage in long-range drone strikes will further strengthen if Ukrainians, in accordance with the logic of AAM development, inevitably come to use American experience in breaking through strong air defenses in these strikes.

For example, as in Hanoi during the Vietnam War. More specifically – functional echeloning of the air strike group and deepening the specialization of its elements.

In the race of ballistic missiles, which have an order of magnitude greater payload and speed than drones, Russia has a clear advantage due to accumulated Soviet experience and a preserved production base. But Ukraine has already begun testing its own ballistic missiles. Given the experience and capabilities of the Ukrainian military industry, it can be predicted that by the end of the year, exchanges of ballistic missile strikes between the adversaries will become close to parity.

If Ukraine demonstrates its ballistic capabilities immediately on too large a scale, it will be a shock for Russian society. Demands for the use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine may spread among people who do not understand the real consequences of such a step, including for Russia. Because even Ukraine alone, without Western allies, is capable of an, albeit asymmetrical, nuclear response.

I mean the so-called "dirty bomb," when radioactive substances, which Ukraine has enough of thanks to the presence of nuclear power plants, are sprayed over enemy territory with the help of a conventional charge, for example, aerial bombs or missiles. And to organize such a response to a Russian nuclear strike using its own ballistic missiles is a completely solvable task. Hotheads among Russian politicians and publicists should understand that a nuclear strike, for example, on Kyiv, could provoke a retaliatory radioactive contamination of, again for example, Moscow or St. Petersburg.

I really like Kyiv, and I also liked St. Petersburg. I would not want these cities to become uninhabitable.

Even more so, I would not want a Russian nuclear strike to originate from Belarus, for example, with Russian "Iskander" missiles with nuclear warheads from the Asipovichy region. So that Belarus, in response, would receive another radiation strike, not just on the outskirts of the country, as in 1986, but, for example, on our capital. I believe that one Chernobyl was enough for us.

Playing with nuclear weapons is lethally dangerous madness. Allowing a foreign state to play with its nuclear weapons on our land is already madness with suicidal tendencies, which cannot be justified by any rational arguments.

It is unacceptable for foreign nuclear weapons to be deployed on Belarusian soil. Even more so, that they be used from here against other countries. Belarus must be neutral and nuclear-free. For Belarusians, this is already a condition of life or death," wrote Mikalai Statkevich.

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