The US has bought $ 290 million worth of the anti-radiation sickness drug, Nplate, used to reduce bleeding caused by acute radiation sickness. The authorities deny that the purchase was in any way influenced by Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling, but that is what they would say isn’t it, not to scare the sheeple? And then there is comedian prime minister of the Ukraine, the man who can dance in heels, Zelensky, saying that the West should launch a first strike upon Russia to show that the West means business. This claim, as bold as could be, was walked back by his administration, probably when the “West” got scared. Finally, even old Joe Biden thinks that the world is even closer to nuclear war than during the Cuban missile crisis, but his administration intends to double-down on what hey are doing now, ensuring that the big bombs will fly.
“The US has stocked up on radiation sickness drugs just weeks after Vladimir Putin threatened to use nuclear weapons against the West.
Officials said the deal — worth $290million — was ‘part of ongoing work’ and ‘has not been accelerated’ by the Kremlin leader's escalating rhetoric.
The US Health and Human Services (HHS) - whose motto is to 'improve the health, safety, and well-being of America - announced the purchase of romiplostim Tuesday.
Sold under the brand name Nplate, it is used to reduce bleeding caused by acute radiation syndrome (ARS), also known as radiation sickness.
Putin issued a chilling warning late last month that he was prepared to use Russia’s nuclear arsenal to protect Ukrainian territory annexed after sham referendums.
But the US Health and Human Services (HHS) said the drug order was ‘part of ongoing work’ and ‘has not been accelerated’ by Putin’s warning.
However, the timing will likely raise questions given that this is the first time the US Government has bought Nplate.
It is unclear how many doses the order covers, but the drug normally fetches between $1,000 and $2,500 per dose.
Radiation sickness occurs when a person’s whole body is exposed to a high dose of penetrating radiation, which reaches internal organs in seconds.
It can leave people with low platelet counts, causing impaired blood clotting and leading to ‘uncontrolled and life-threatening bleeding’.
Nplate - made by California pharmaceutical company Amgen - stems bleeding by stimulating the body’s production of platelets, and can be used in both adults and children.
It can also be used to treat patients with immune thrombocytopenia, a blood condition causing low platelet counts.
The HHS said the buying of the drug was due to its ‘long-standing, ongoing efforts to be better prepared to save lives following radiological and nuclear emergencies’ and not a response to Russia’s president.
‘This is part of our ongoing work for preparedness and radiological security. It has not been accelerated by the situation in Ukraine,’ it added in a statement.
The US has kept a supply of Leukine, another drug which treats ARS, since 2013, incase of a nuclear event.
As well as Leukine and Nplate, two other drugs are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration to treat acute radiation exposure – Amgen’s Neupogen and Neulasta.
Nplate is approved for use in Europe and the UK to treat immune thrombocytopenia, but not injuries resulting from radiation exposure.
Putin also ordered the mobilization of 300,000 military reserves - a first in Russia since the Second World War - and gave the go-ahead for referendums to be held in occupied areas of Ukraine that would make them a part of Russia, in the Kremlin's eyes at least.
In a televised statement on September 21, he vowed to use 'all means' to defend the regions, saying: 'If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all available means to protect Russia and our people - this is not a bluff... I shall stress - by all means available to us.
'Those trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the tables can turn on them.'
Putin's gambit came after Ukraine routed a large part of the Russian army in September, leaving him backed into a corner of his own making and facing the possible collapse of his so-called 'special military operation'.
But rather than back down, the Russian leader instead chose to double down and hold the free world to ransom - putting Russia and its huge nuclear arsenal on a direct collision course with Ukraine and its allies, who have already vowed not to accept the results of 'sham' referendums or to stop liberating occupied territory.”
“President Biden said Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not joking” in his threat to use nuclear weapons and warned of dire consequences if the Kremlin continues along its destructive path.
Speaking at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, Mr. Biden said that for the first time since October 1962, the U.S. faces “the direct threat of the use of a nuclear weapon if, in fact, things continue down the path they are going.”
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” he told the attendees at the private event.
Officials have expressed concern over the Kremlin’s nuclear threats throughout the war in Ukraine, but have said as recently as last week that they have not detected any of the kinds of changes in Russia’s nuclear forces that would alter the U.S. alert posture.
After sustaining heavy territorial and personnel losses in Ukraine, Mr. Putin has responded with a significant escalation in his nuclear saber-rattling, though it has been a persistent rhetorical theme by Russian officials since they invaded in February.”
Volodymyr Zelensky’s office has clarified that he was not calling for a “pre-emptive” nuclear strike on Russia, after a speech by the Ukrainian President to an Australian audience on Thursday night sparked a furious response from the Kremlin.
Mr Zelensky was speaking via video link to the Lowy Institute when he made the comments in response to a question from the think tank’s executive director Michael Fullilove.
“Mr President, in your remarks you mentioned nuclear blackmail,” the host said.
“Mr Putin told us the other day that he’s not bluffing. So may I ask you, do you believe that the likelihood of the use of Russian nuclear weapons against Ukraine has risen, and what more do you want NATO to do to deter Russia from using nuclear weapons?”
Mr Zelensky replied that NATO should “eliminate the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons”.
“But what is important, I once again appeal to the international community, as I did before February 24 – we need pre-emptive strikes, so that they’ll know what will happen to them if they use nukes, and not the other way around,” he said.
“Don’t wait for Russia’s nuclear strikes, and then say, ‘Oh, since you did this, take that from us!’ Reconsider the way you apply pressure. This is what NATO should do – reconsider the order in which it applies pressure [on Russia].”
In response, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Mr Zelensky’s comments “are nothing but a call to start a world war” which would lead to “unforeseeable disastrous consequences”.
Russian’s Foreign Ministry also accused Mr Zelensky of trying to provoke a nuclear war, with spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stating that “every person on the planet” should recognise that the “unbalanced” Ukrainian leader had turned into “a monster, whose hands can destroy the planet”, reported state-run news outlet RT.
Mr Zelensky’s office later issued a statement clarifying that he “did not call on NATO countries to pre-emptively use nuclear weapons against the Russian Federation — he spoke about the period before the start of a full-scale invasion”.
“Colleagues, you have gone a little far with your nuclear hysteria and now you hear nuclear strikes even where there are none,” press secretary Serhiy Nikiforov wrote on Facebook.
“The President spoke about the period until February 24. Then it was necessary to take preventive measures to prevent Russia from starting a war. Let me remind you that the only measures discussed at that time were preventive sanctions.”