Putin was close to using nuclear weapons against Ukraine twice - an expert

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has never removed the possibility of a nuclear attack on Ukraine from his agenda and put the "nuclear folder" on his desk as recently as last year in March.

This was stated by the Russian publicist Valery Solovei, UNIAN informs.

On Yulia Latynina's broadcast, he stated that there was a real threat of a nuclear missile coming to Kyiv twice. The first such case was in the spring of 2022.

"For several hours, we were literally on the threshold of using tactical nuclear weapons," Solovei said.

He stated that the Russian dictator could then take such a step due to psychological factors rather than due to any events at the front.

"The second time was relatively recently, as far as I know. Again, I don't understand the reasons, but at the time it was not an illusory possibility. So the option remains," he said.

Solovei noted that there are currently many more people in Putin's entourage who are categorically against the start of a nuclear war than there were at the beginning of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. People close to Putin are ready not only to disobey his orders to use such weapons, but also to block him. "Blocking is something that comes from people who have a lot of power," he said.

Putin was not considering the possibility of a global nuclear war, but wanted to deliver a nuclear strike at one or more points.

Read also:

• Explosions in Kyiv: what was hit and are there any damages?

• In a joint statement, Zelenskyy and Rutte supported the establishment of a tribunal in The Hague for Russian criminals

• "It was a horror, people covered in blood": the train from Kherson, which was shelled by the Russian Federation, arrived in Lviv almost without delays.

• Ukraine will win, and a tribunal awaits Putin: Zelenskyy's main statements from The Hague