Putin can play ‘Russian roulette’ - Colonel Stelmakh on threat of Russia's nuclear attack

He shared this opinion on the air of the Espreso TV channel.

‘Putin may be playing “Russian roulette” to see if the West is giving in to him. I am almost certain that he is ready to use nuclear weapons. We need to develop our weapons programs to meet his threats. No one, not the Americans, not the Germans, not the French, will defend our homeland. We have to do it ourselves, together, jointly, because we live on this land. Yes, our missile programs have been frozen. But after three years of war, we are only now hearing about some new developments. I don't understand why this wasn't the case 10-15 years ago,’ he said.

Commenting on the threat of an Oreshnik missile strike on the territory of Ukraine, Stelmakh suggested that Russia could take such a step in the near future.

‘They may launch a missile on December 17, which is the 65th anniversary of the creation of the Strategic Missile Forces. The Russians always do something by a certain date, like November 7 or February 23. I believe that they will launch this missile, of course, if they succeed. After all, technical problems could prevent the launch. I personally witnessed how the missile failed to launch due to a technical malfunction, when one button failed and there was no launch,’ he said.

According to the reserve colonel, it makes no sense to launch Oreshnik without a nuclear warhead. However, it is not necessary to use this kind of missile for the same threat.

‘In one of his interviews, Mark Solonin showed that 1 kg falling from a height of 140 km has the same kinetic energy as 1 kg of trinitrotoluene. That is, 200 kg in one warhead is like a 250 kg aerial bomb with a kill zone of 57 meters, and no one will be hurt at a distance of 70 meters. What did they achieve with this? Nothing. It was intimidation. They have maybe three or five of these missiles left, no more. But why would they use this missile for a tactical nuclear charge when they have Kh-55, Kh-555, Kh-101, Iskander-K, Iskander-M, Kalibr, which can carry a nuclear charge?’ he added.

• Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that on November 21, Russia tested a medium-range ballistic missile Oreshnik during an attack on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. He added that Moscow would ‘respond to the escalation’.
• President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Russia had taken the second step towards escalation with the use of a new ballistic missile, calling the first the involvement of the DPRK military.
• The Security Service of Ukraine presented unique evidence of another Russian aggression by showing the world media the wreckage of the Oreshnik ballistic missile fired by Russia at Dnipro
• On November 28, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said that decision-making centers in Kyiv could be targeted by a new Oreshnik missile, which Russia used to attack Dnipro on November 21.
• On December 6, Putin suggested that the Oreshnik could be deployed in Belarus.
• On December 10, Russian leader Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would not be improving its nuclear doctrine, but the Oreshnik system.
• On December 11, the Pentagon warned that in the coming days, the Russians could use the Oreshnik ballistic missile again to attack Ukraine.