Russia said its delegation was ready Wednesday for the second round of peace talks with Ukraine — while giving a chilling warning that a third world war would certainly involve nuclear weapons.
The invading nation’s “delegation will be in place to await Ukrainian negotiators,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said — as Russian forces continued the devastating air and land assault for the seventh day.
Video footage showed yet another series of devastating bomb blasts Wednesday as Russian forces also claimed to have taken control of the area around Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhzhia.
Peskov conceded that it was not yet clear if Ukraine would send its own delegation after its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, made clear that Russia must “first stop bombing people” before negotiations could continue.
Peskov said he could not “predict whether Ukrainian negotiators will show up or not” for the second round after the fruitless talks Monday.
“Let’s hope this happens. Our negotiators will be there and ready,” he said, confirming that culture adviser Vladimir Medinsky remains the main negotiator for Russia.
But while the Kremlin put on a more diplomatic public face, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent a clear warning to the world just days after his president, Vladimir Putin, put his nuclear forces on high alert.
Lavrov said on Wednesday that if a third World War were to take place, it would involve nuclear weapons and be destructive, the RIA news agency reported.
Lavrov has said that Russia, which launched what it calls a special military operation against Ukraine last week, would face a “real danger” if Kyiv acquired nuclear weapons.
Lavrov has previously claimed that Russia was trying to stop Ukraine from obtaining nukes, despite Zelensky’s assurances that he had no intentions of doing so.