Putin is preparing to escalate war with Ukraine – Bloomberg
Bloomberg reports that a growing number of Russian officials believe Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons.
Putin is preparing to intensify the war with Ukraine – Bloomberg
According to Bloomberg sources close to the Kremlin, Russia is preparing to intensify attacks on Ukraine, using the impasse in peace talks as an excuse.
The agency’s interlocutors reported the following:
* Russia is considering the possibility of intensifying strikes on Kiev, including the center of the Ukrainian capital, as well as infrastructure facilities in other cities of the country, with conventional ballistic missiles.
* Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop the war under pressure from economic sanctions and Ukraine’s attacks on Russian oil refineries and logistics.
* Moscow is increasingly assessing the Ukrainian strikes as attacks by NATO countries, since the alliance’s member states are supplying Kiev with weapons and intelligence.
* All mechanisms for peace talks have collapsed, and as a result, both warring parties have returned to square one. The Kremlin claims that it has already made concessions during the war, and that each of these concessions has weakened Russia's position. In the absence of diplomatic relations, Moscow sees no alternative but to escalate the conflict, which would allow Russia to achieve its military goals.
* As the intensity of the Ukrainian strikes has increased, more and more Russian officials believe that Putin may eventually resort to a more drastic measure - the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Bloomberg notes that there are no signs that Russia is preparing to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In the past, Russia has repeatedly made nuclear threats in an attempt to intimidate Ukraine's Western allies.
Alexander Gabuyev, director of the Carnegie Center for the Study of Russia and Eurasia in Berlin, emphasized in a statement to the publication that the risk of Moscow using tactical nuclear weapons remains extremely low.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to reporters' requests for comment.