Russian Foreign Ministry: Nuclear War is Impossible, It Would Be the End of Civilisation

Earlier, NATO rejected Ukraine's request to impose a no-fly zone in its sky during Russia's special operation on Ukrainian territory, which involves the use of aviation. Members of the bloc explained that it could trigger a Third World War between nuclear countries.

The nuclear war is "impossible" said Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department for Non-Proliferation and Arms Control, adding that many experts understand its disastrous consequences for the world.

"Nuclear war can't be staged by definition because this would result in the end of civilisation... mankind. We can't allow it in any way," he said.

He explained that nuclear armaments and their delivery are now so advanced that nuclear war would entail a rapid exchange of strikes which "no one would be able to stop".

Vishnevetsky also rejected with scorn suggestions that the "limited" use of nuclear weapons might be possible. He wondered who would be able to "limit" such weaponry, especially if artificial intelligence is involved - something that is being discussed in the defence industry.

The deputy director also reminded his audience of the agreement reached in January by the five recognised nuclear-weapon states - Russia, the US, UK, France and China - about the impossibility of nuclear war. Their statement, which Vishnevetsky read out, said that there are no winners in nuclear war and it should not be waged by anyone. The five states also stressed that nuclear weapons should only be used as a deterrence to prevent war and that their further proliferation should be prevented.

NATO countries previously rejected repeated calls from Kiev to implement a no-fly zone in Ukraine's airspace to prevent Russian aviation from carrying out its missions as a part of Russian special operation in Ukraine. The alliance members argued that the no-fly zone could trigger a Third World War with Russia, which may end up being a nuclear one. Moscow also cautioned NATO against implementing a no-fly zone, warning that it would then consider the bloc a party to the conflict.

The topic of nuclear weapons was also raised by Ukraine itself, after the country's President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested withdrawal from the Budapest memorandum by which Kiev was compelled to remove the nuclear weapons left behind when the USSR collapsed. He claimed that the signatories of the memorandum had failed to uphold security guarantees given to Ukraine in exchange for it to enact voluntary nuclear disarmament. Soon after the start of the special operation, Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, revealed that his agency found evidence that Kiev was working on rebuilding nuclear armaments in violation of the memorandum.

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