Russian TV Host Calls for Destruction of Key NATO Capitals

A prominent Russian state TV host recently advocated for the destruction of Kyiv as well as two NATO capitals during a recent broadcast on the state-run Russia-1 channel.

The comments by Vladimir Solovyov, a Kremlin propagandist and popular presence on Russian television and radio, came as NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Thursday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Following the talks, Stoltenberg told reporters that Ukraine will eventually join the alliance, adding that it must have "the deterrence to prevent new attacks." The war in Ukraine began on February 24, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin's forces launched an invasion.

During a recent on-air discussion with other Russian pundits, Solovyov spoke about "war going on in our territory," according to a translated clip posted on Twitter by Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine's minister of internal affairs.

"Belgorod is being shelled," Solovyov said, though it's unclear if he was referring to a bomb dropped on the Russian city that his country's military later said was accidentally dropped from one of its own warplanes.

He then spoke about Donetsk being "shelled," though the city is in the Donetsk region of Ukraine that's currently occupied by Russian forces. In September 2022, Putin proclaimed the annexation of the Donetsk region along with three other occupied territories—Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia.

According to Solovyov, the cities being "shelled" would justify attacks on the capitals of Ukraine, Poland and Germany.

"That's why it's necessary to...destroy Kyiv, Warsaw, Berlin," Solovyov said, per Gerashchenko's translation.

Other guests on the show quickly interjected that the destruction of the cities could be done without the use of nuclear weapons.

"So you don't like the word 'nuclear'?" Solovyov said. "You don't mind to destroy but without the word 'nuclear.' Okay, well, you don't like it, but I do."

The U.S. State Department has said Solovyov spreads disinformation from the Kremlin, and wrote on its website last year in a list identifying well-known figures involved in Russian propaganda that Solovyov "may be the most energetic Kremlin propagandist around today."

Solovyov is known for making bold threats, such as saying Russia should unleash a nuclear attack on any country that would attempt to detain Putin over the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in March for alleged war crimes. He also has advocated multiple times for Moscow to make use of its nuclear capabilities against the countries that back Ukraine.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.