Russia has issued a strong warning to the west and the United States to “remember that Russia has big bombs, from which no bunker could keep its occupants safe.”
A report by Kyiv Post on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025,said former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev issued the warning in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s recent interview with Axios suggesting that Russian officials should be prepared to seek shelter if the Kremlin continues its war, hinting that centers of power, including Moscow itself, could be considered legitimate military targets if Ukraine receives new long-range U.S. weapons.
Medvedev, who now serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, made the remarks on Sept. 25
Taking to “Max,” Russia’s recently launched social media platform, Medvedev dismissed Zelensky with one of his preferred slurs, calling him a “junkie,” before reiterating Moscow’s nuclear capabilities.
“The junkie in Kyiv said that the Kremlin needs to know where the bomb shelter is so they can hide when he uses long-range American weapons,” Medvedev wrote. “What that freak needs to understand is this: Russia has weapons that no bomb shelter can protect against. The Americans should remember this, too.”
Medvedev, often described as the Kremlin’s most outspoken hardliner, has earned the nickname “herald of the apocalypse” for his repeated nuclear threats since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.
According to monitoring groups, he issued at least a dozen explicit nuclear warnings against the West in 2024 alone, many of them via his Telegram channel.
His latest comments came just as U.S. President Donald Trump shifted tone on the conflict, praising Zelensky after a meeting on Sept. 23 and describing Russia as a “paper tiger.” Trump added that he believes Ukraine can reclaim occupied territories if it receives adequate support from the West.
Trump has previously clashed with Medvedev directly. Earlier this year, he condemned the Russian politician for what he described as reckless nuclear rhetoric, particularly after Medvedev threatened to provide Iran with nuclear weapons following U.S. strikes on Iranian facilities. In a social media post at the time, Trump accused Medvedev of casually “throwing around the ‘N word’ (Nuclear)
