But the most chilling passage came at the end of the Russian president’s speech: «And now – Putin said – some important words to those who could get the idea of interfering. Whoever tries to meddle, especially in creating threats for our country, for our people, know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences, as you have never experienced ».
Putin did not say the word “nuclear”, but it was interpreted in this way, confirming a determination to go beyond all limits in his challenge. Confirmed in the following words: «We are ready for any development: all the necessary decisions in this regard have been taken. I hope to be heard ».
An unimaginable scenario
Shortly after, the first explosions in Kiev, where until a few hours earlier it had seemed unimaginable that Putin dared to go. The cities of Ukraine under attack from land, sky and sea: Odessa, Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kherson, Lutsk, Mariupol. In a few minutes, mountains of analysis, diplomatic efforts, scenarios and assumptions about the small-medium size of the possible invasion collapsed. Putin’s choice changed the course of history.
The one launched from Belarus from the North, from Crimea and the Black Sea / Azov Sea from the South and from the eastern borders of Donbass is one of the largest military offensives that Europe has seen since the Second World War. We will not bomb cities: the targets of “precision weapons” will be military infrastructure, clarified the Russian Defense Ministry. But soon columns of tanks and armored vehicles entered Ukraine following the air attacks: American intelligence believes that the capital, in fact besieged after the taking of the military airport of Hostomel but with long lines of cars of desperately in looking for an escape route to the West, may fall in a few days.
But Volodymyr Zelenskii, the Ukrainian president, returned to address his compatriots calling them to defend the country: “What we have heard today are not just missile explosions, shots and the roar of planes – he said -. This is the sound of a new Iron Curtain coming down to isolate Russia from the civilized world. “