Boston (February 23, 2024) - Ahead of the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) released the following statement condemning Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats of deploying nuclear weapons:

“The United States stands together in continuing to condemn Vladimir Putin’s illegal and immoral full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The brutal carnage wrought by this war of his own creation, not only against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people and Russian domestic political opposition, must end. His nuclear saber rattling, as recently indicated by plans to place a nuclear weapon into orbit potentially as soon as this year, is the latest warning that Putin must be defeated. At every step of this full-scale invasion, Putin uses nuclear catastrophe as a threat by shelling and occupying Ukraine’s nuclear power plants on the frontlines, placing Russian nuclear forces on ‘special combat readiness,’ and having his cabinet members threaten the specter of a nuclear conflict. I am steadfast in my commitment to support Ukraine and the Ukrainian people and efforts to contain the risk of nuclear accidents, miscalculations, and war.”

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