Kathrine Frich
He also directly threatened the UK.
Late-night television is usually the place for light entertainment and tired jokes.
In some parts of the world, however, prime-time studio lights shine on a very different kind of broadcast.
Lately, the scripts have grown much darker.
Drowning the islands
According to the Daily Express, prominent Kremlin television host Vladimir Solovyov just used his state TV platform to demand the complete annihilation of the United Kingdom.
Outraged by news that London plans to supply Kyiv with long-range weapons, the broadcaster asked why Moscow was still holding back against the British Isles.
“The British said, ‘We will give Ukraine ballistic missiles.’ All of you should drown! Why are we sparing these freaking islands? What good are they to us? They’ve meddled in Russia’s affairs throughout history,” Solovyov raged on air.
He then advised British citizens to pack up and leave their homeland for good. The host told viewers that Britons should “get into boats and head for America, the way it already happened in your history”, while brushing off any worry for Russian expats living there.
Calling those expatriates a “gathering of pitiful people who fled Russia”, he added that there is “no pity for them at all”.
Flattening whole cities
Solovyov soon turned his anger back toward Ukraine. As the Daily Express reported, he urged the Russian military to give residents of Kyiv three days to leave before moving to “destroy Kyiv, erase it off the face of the earth”.
He also wondered why Odesa, Sumy, and Kharkiv had not been “reduced to ashes” yet, calling on generals to “destroy the heck out of everything on that territory in the zone of 40 kilometres” to carve out a buffer zone.
“If we want to create a sanitary zone, let’s create it. With thunderous fire and the flashing of steel. Let’s create it with a barrage of fire. Let’s make it so Kharkiv is not usable. Is it cruel? No, it isn’t cruel. This is war, we will pity everyone later on,” Solovyov said.
Even foreign diplomats were not spared in his tirade. “Why NATO’s representatives come to Kyiv? Why is Kyiv not being demolished at the same time? Are we afraid to graze NATO representatives? Explain to me, why do we still have the embassies of these countries?” he asked.
Warning of nuclear war
Alongside him in the studio sat weatherman Evgeny Tishkovets. The Daily Express noted that the forecaster backed the host “150%” and declared that “the Russian bear shouldn’t ask anyone’s permission”.
Solovyov wrapped up by warning that a wider nuclear showdown with the West is inevitable.
“They’ve dragged us into this war not to end it in a draw. If anyone doesn’t understand, if anyone thinks they will find good Russians who will wink at them, don’t delude yourself. They will carry out a nuclear strike against us as soon as they are able to do it,” he claimed.
