A growing number of Russian officials reportedly believe President Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine as peace talks remain stalled and the war drags on with no end in sight.
A growing number of Russian officials have concluded that President Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine as peace talks remain stalled and the war drags on with no end in sight, according to Bloomberg.
Putin and his aides have frequently threatened Ukraine and its Western partners with nuclear weapons since launching the full-scale invasion four years ago.
According to multiple accounts published over the past two years, the Joe Biden administration considered such threats so serious at one point that it warned Putin that any Russian nuclear strike would trigger a massive US-led Western response. It also mounted a diplomatic campaign and conveyed messages through India and China to deter Putin from using nuclear weapons.
Bloomberg reported that chatter in Moscow among hawks calling for such a step has increased recently.
The report noted that a nuclear strike could be possible because, for Putin, the only outcome worse than continuing the war would be losing it.
The report comes shortly after CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow for urgent talks with Russian officials. While the Donald Trump administration has not disclosed the purpose of the visit, Politico reported that Ratcliffe warned Russia against escalating the conflict with European countries, particularly in the Baltics, as the war in Ukraine has become a stalemate for Putin.
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For weeks, intelligence reports have raised concerns about potential Russian escalation.
Earlier this month, The Wall Street Journal reported that a US intelligence assessment found Russia could escalate its hybrid war against Europe through a limited ground incursion or cyberattacks across eastern Europe at any time from this autumn to 2029. The report followed another assessment by US and European agencies, as per The Telegraph, which said Russia was considering armed provocations inside Poland, including missile or drone strikes on critical infrastructure or false-flag attacks designed to blame Ukraine.
Putin likely to escalate war in Ukraine soon
Putin is preparing to intensify attacks on Ukraine after concluding that negotiations have reached a dead end, according to Bloomberg.
The report quoted three people close to the Kremlin as saying that Putin is considering stepping up missile attacks on Ukraine by expanding strikes to central Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities. They also said that Putin has decided not to end the war under economic pressure.
They said that Putin increasingly views long-range strikes inside Russia as attacks by Nato as alliance members supply Ukraine with weapons and intelligence.
There remains some hope that Trump’s negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, could arrive in Moscow with new proposals, but expectations of a breakthrough remain very low, according to these sources.