Former United States Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Wednesday said that it was unlikely, but possible, that Russian President Vladimir Putin would use nuclear weapons in his war on Ukraine.
The official said that the more that Ukraine takes back control of its territory from Russian control, especially in the east and south, the more desperate Putin becomes. He noted that this has been a strategic failure in multiple ways since the beginning of the invasion in February.
Russia's Nuclear Weapons
Per CNN, Esper said that he thinks the Russian president continues to paint himself in a corner and limit his options in order to get out of the mess that he made himself. The former defense secretary estimated that if Moscow would use nuclear weapons, it would likely be somewhere between one and 10 kilotons.
For reference, Esper noted that the 15-kiloton nuclear weapon that the United States used in Hiroshima, Japan, killed 70,000 people and laid waste to five square miles of territory. The American official added that the U.S. and its allies can respond to the heightened threat by communicating to Moscow that if there is any indication they plan to use a "tactical" nuclear weapon, they would put an air cap above Ukraine, as per The Hill.
The Russian strongman has continued to issue his nuclear threat in recent weeks as his military forces have been forced to retreat from parts of eastern and southern Ukraine. A day after Putin announced the formal annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Russian forces withdrew from the city of Lyman in the Donetsk region, which is one of the four recently-annexed territories.
On the other hand, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who previously dismissed Putin's prior nuclear threats as bluffs, warned that the Russian strongman's latest threats "could be a reality."
According to AOL News, the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv has already started preparing evacuation centers in the case of a possible nuclear attack by Russia. They come with potassium iodine pills to help fight against radiation absorption.
War in Ukraine
Putin has been considered to be bluffing over his continuous threats of nuclear equipment used in its conflict with Ukraine. A military analyst based in Prague, Yuri Fyodorov, said that what would happen in a week or month from now is difficult to anticipate.
CIA Director William Burns, when asked if the Russian president was moving towards the use of nuclear weapons, said that they had to take the matter seriously. However, the official noted that U.S. intelligence had no "practical evidence" that Putin was moving towards the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
The head of Russia's Chechnya region, Ramzan Kadyrov, said that Moscow should consider using low-yield tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. These types of weapons are essentially nuclear weapons used on the battlefield for tactical reasons. They are much less powerful than the big bombs that were used to destroy large cities.
While Russia has specialized nuclear forces trained to fight in such an apocalyptic battlefield, it remains unclear how its troops, mercenaries, drafted reservists, and local militias would adapt to the situation, Reuters reported.
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