General Bertolini on Kiev blasts: “Putin’s reaction is predictable, but a dangerous escalation”

“The answer of Vladimir Putin the Ukrainian counteroffensive arrived and it was also a predictable thing. The escalation that has been going on for some time could also reach the nuclear threshold when there are no longer enough conventional forces to deal with the situation. I believe that, even within the US administration, there is growing awareness that we are reaching a dangerous point and beyond what is necessary”.

To talk to fanpage.it is the general Marco Bertolini, former commander of the Operational Command of Vertice Interforze and the Folgore Brigade, who commented on the latest updates on the war in Ukraine.

In the last few hours, in fact, Russian missiles struck again Kiev, resulting in the death of 8 people at the time, all civilians. There was also an explosion on the street where the Ukrainian Security Service resides and others were also warned in Kharkov it’s at Lviv.

Italian General Marco Bertolini

General Bertolini, how do you define the bombings that took place in Kiev and other Ukrainian territories?

“It’s what in technical jargon can be defined as a retaliation, that is, an institution also contemplated by the international law of war and the law on armed conflicts.

In addition to these technicalities, it is a response to a series of blows received by Russia: the death of Darya Dugina, the Ukrainian counter-offensive with the substantial contribution of the United States from the point of view of weapons and information, the cutting of the Nord Stream, that isolated Moscow from the energy point of view of Europe, putting Europe in front of the fact that it can never again have a cheap energy supply like the one it was used to, and finally the blow to the Crimean bridge.

These last two events in particular also had important symbolic and practical value. They served to physically separate Russia from Europe. That there could be a reaction was predictable.”

Do you believe that, given recent developments, the nuclear threat could become real?

“I think nuclear weapons are now being discussed with frightening indifference.

Before it was unthinkable, then slowly it became possible and then predictable and soon it will become an acceptable fact to say that they are tactical nuclear weapons, that they don’t have that destructive power that strategic ones have, when in reality these tactics are more powerful than the bombs that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, there is talk unspeakable damage.

I think that talking about a nuclear threat serves to prepare us for something, for a perspective to which we can resign ourselves.

I reject this because I am convinced that Russia does not agree because nuclear confrontation would take place in Europe and Russia is part of Europe, therefore, it would hit the same continent it is located on and with which it is trying to reconnect. He has no interest in it.

But it is also true that the climb that has been in place for some time may also reach the nuclear threshold when there are no longer enough conventional forces to deal with the situation, considering that it is vital for Russia to have the Crimea and Donbass available. But, again, I don’t think it is in the Russian interest to do such a thing, in fact they are the first to fear such a prospect because it would trigger a reaction, both internal and external.”

From an internal point of view, we have already seen how the announcement of partial mobilization created some problems….

“Mobilization is never a pleasant decision. Of course, nobody likes to send their children to fight a war, so certainly there are difficulties of a social nature to face, but also of a moral nature. It would also happen to us. Russia has also recently affected morale, but without affecting the consciousness of the majority of the population of the vital character for the Federation of the interests at stake”.

Having reached this point, is it impossible, in your opinion, to expect a peaceful resolution between the two parties?

“We really need to understand at this point who the two sides of the game are.

I believe that Ukraine is the terrain where the confrontation between Russia and the United States is taking place. States United. This is reality.

Therefore, in my opinion Kiev can affect to some extent from this point of view, and it is possible that the radicalism displayed by Zelensky go beyond Washington’s expectations.

I hear and see that someone from the US is starting to ask questions about whether to continue a climb without a negotiated. It should have been and could have been done many months ago, saving thousands of deaths and destruction and now finally also the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken starts talking about the need for a negotiation.

Above all, the need to reach a negotiation has finally reached the American media and may become a topic for the next midterm elections in the United States. In fact, Trump made no secret that he considered the belligerent choice perverse.

I believe and hope that in Europe and in Italy awareness of scratchs that we are running without passively queuing a choices of others that have nothing to do with our interests. By the way, unfortunately, we can see that we will come out of this war in much worse conditions than we had at the beginning. And that, indefinitely.”