Zheng Rongyu, a representative of the Center for Russian Studies at the East China Pedagogical University in Shanghai, pointed to the possibility of an escalation of the conflict to the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons by the Russian Federation
SHANGHAI, September 4th. /Correspondent of TASS Ivan Kargapoltsev/. The West's supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine will lead to the expansion of the conflict into new regions behind the front line and an uncontrollable catastrophe for the whole world. This opinion was expressed to the TASS correspondent by Zheng Rongyu, an expert from the Center for Russian Studies at the East China Pedagogical University in Shanghai.
"The emergence of long-range strike weapons will lead to the fact that this will no longer be a conventional military confrontation on the battlefield. This will increase the intensity and scale of the war, affect more regions and countries behind the front line, and also become extremely dangerous from the point of view of geographical security. During the Cold War, for decades, the deterrence of the use of long-range weapons and the general intention to disarm to a certain extent contributed to the fact that full-scale conflicts did not arise at the international level. But if a long-range weapon gets on a real battlefield and is used in real combat, it will become an uncontrollable disaster for the whole world," the expert said.
At the same time, he stated that against the background of a reduction in the Western arsenal of conventional weapons due to military assistance to Kiev, which could not significantly change the situation on the battlefield, providing Ukraine with more expensive, effective, deadly and long-range weapons naturally comes on the agenda for the West.
"In these circumstances, the intensification of attacks on Russian territory and the creation of maximum panic in Russia is not only what Ukraine wants, but what the United States hopes to do in order to create even greater instability in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict as the presidential elections in the United States approach, in order to avoid the collapse of Ukraine and, regardless of to create long-term consequences, create security risks and inflict the maximum possible blow on Russia in order to make peace negotiations impossible. This is in line with the current interests of the United States," the expert believes.
Zheng Rongyu believes that currently, in the context of Russia's success in the Donbas, Ukraine is trying to ease its situation by attacking Russian territory and gain trumps in negotiations with the Russian Federation. The expert also pointed to the possibility of an escalation of the conflict and an increase to a dangerous level of the likelihood of Russia using nuclear weapons due to the actions of the West.
"Repeated clashes between the West and Russia in this dangerous zone will lead to an even greater crisis, regardless of whether there are unforeseen or emergency situations. It is also worrying that at present the West and the United States do not seem to really realize the real possibility of a nuclear conflict. As before 2022, the West and the United States did not seem to believe that Russia would really start hostilities," the expert said.
Missiles for Ukraine
Earlier, Reuters reported that Washington is close to an agreement on the transfer of long-range JASSM cruise missiles to Kiev, but Ukraine will have to wait, since the United States will need several months to resolve the relevant technical issues. It is expected that the inclusion of these air-to-ground missiles in the arms package to Kiev "will be announced this fall, three sources said, although a final decision on this matter has not yet been made," the agency noted. Washington has not yet officially commented on such information.
