RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin has said that so far, there is no need felt by Moscow to deploy its Nuclear weapons and hopes it may not arise in the future.
The conflict in Ukraine has entered a decisive phase as Russia keeps pounding the Ukrainian front line, pushing them back and even capturing large parts of Zhiporizhia, Kharkiv, and liberating Kursk from the Ukrainian control occupied since the 2022 summer offensive.
He made these comments after Kyiv and Washington signed the critical mineral deal, marking the US role in the peace process as doubtful.
In a video clip that has gone viral in the western media, Putin was quoted saying Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion with or without mediation or outside inference, making an indirect reference to the United States, which was planning to slap fresh sanctions on Moscow.”
It seems the United States got what they wished for since entering into a trade war with china and now they are seemingly not worried about the Ukraine war anymore.
Responding to a question about Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, Putin said, “There has been no need to use those (nuclear) weapons … and I hope they will not be required.”
“We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires,” he said while making a direct threat to the EU and Ukraine’s backers.
Apparently, in November 2024, Russia revamped its complete nuclear doctrine; these changes now allow Moscow to use nuclear weapons even in case it feels a conventional strike or war is threatening the territorial sovereignty of Russia.
In the film, Putin also said Russia did not launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine — what he called a “special military operation”— in 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea, because it was “practically unrealistic.”
“The country was not ready for such a frontal confrontation with the entire collective West,” he said. He also claimed that Russia “sincerely sought to solve the problem of Donbas by peaceful means.” Putin said that reconciliation with Ukraine was “inevitable.”
Russia fired a total of 165 exploding drones and decoys overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. Of those, 69 were intercepted, and a further 80 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.
Russia also launched two ballistic missiles, and Russia’s defence ministry said its air defence shot down 13 Ukrainian drones overnight.
