WASHINGTON, DC – After President Joe Biden promised to supply Ukraine with precision-guided rockets and other military hardware as the country continues to defend itself amid an unprovoked war with Russia, Russian state television responded to the news by issuing a blatant threat, saying that President Vladimir Putin could wipe out the entire United States with just a handful of missiles as tensions continue to build between the two superpowers.
Politician Alexei Zhuravlev and Kremlin spokesperson Yevgeny Popov appeared on the Rossiya 1 channel show this week, where Zhuravlev threatened that just two of Russia’s Sarmat “Satan 2” missiles would destroy the entire east cost of the U.S., adding that it would only take an additional two Satan 2 missiles to wipe out the west coast as well.
“Four missiles and there’ll be nothing left,” Zhuravlev ominously claimed. “They think the mushroom cloud will be taller than a high rise. That mushroom cloud will be visible from Mexico.”
The Satan 2 is a new intercontinental ballistic missile that is capable of launching nuclear warheads anywhere across the globe. With development of the missile starting in the early 2000s, the Satan 2 can carry up to 15 light nuclear warheads in an array known as a MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Re-Entry Vehicles).
Biden announced the military aid for Ukraine – which has been at war since Russia first invaded the European country on the morning of February 24 – in an opinion article published Tuesday in the New York Times. Ukrainian leadership has promised the U.S. that the weapons will only be utilized to defend the country, and not to strike targets within Russia itself.
“America’s goal is straightforward: We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression,” Biden wrote. “We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia.”
Ukraine has been desperately requesting additional military hardware from the U.S. and other countries for weeks, but Biden has been cautious about what he does and does not offer – especially in terms of the effective range of the proposed armaments – so as to not provoke Russia into a potential global conflict.
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