Physicians for Social Responsibility Condemns the Russian Invasion of Ukraine February 24, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Mari Faines, mfaines@psr.org, 773-484-8939

Physicians for Social Responsibility condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and urges immediate de-escalation of this conflict with the goal of ending harm to civilians. History has shown the greatest impacts of war inevitably fall upon the most disenfranchised communities, and we implore leaders to reflect on these potential consequences.

The conflict also carries the risk of an even graver humanitarian catastrophe. Military tension between nuclear-armed adversaries increases the ever-present possibility of nuclear weapons coming into play. President Putin himself alluded to this possibility today by explicitly threatening: “No matter who tries to stand in our way… Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history.”

While President Putin alone bears the responsibility for choosing to attack Ukraine, leaders of all nuclear-armed states must be held collectively accountable for keeping the world safe from the dangers of nuclear weapons. Any use of nuclear weapons — whether purposeful or through accident or miscalculation —would be a humanitarian catastrophe.

Today the Doomsday Clock stands at 100 seconds to midnight. We can’t afford to push it any closer to midnight.

This afternoon, President Biden stated, “There is a complete rupture right now in US-Russia relations.” A rupture in U.S.-Russia relations carries with it enormous risk. It increases the likelihood of miscalculation, misunderstanding, and accident. We need both nations to keep talking. All parties to this conflict should cooperate to end hostilities and resolve the underlying safety and security issues on all sides. Furthermore, to eliminate the danger of nuclear weapons, all nuclear-armed countries should negotiate for total elimination of their nuclear arsenals. Until then, we are living on borrowed time.