Russia officials believe Vladimir Putin is preparing to escalate attacks on Ukraine after concluding that negotiations for a peace deal have reached a dead end.
According to three people close to Kremlin, Russia will deploy ‘tactical nuclear weapons’ against Ukraine, and the President is surveying his options for escalation.
Ukraine and Russia have ramped up attacks against each other in recent months, with Kyiv landing significant strikes deep inside Russian territory against its oil infrastructure.
Meanwhile, peace negotiations have all but stalled, with little hope on either side of a peace deal being found.
Russia is adamant it will not end the war under pressure from sanctions or Ukrainian attacks on its refineries.
It is also increasingly indignant at Nato allies supplying Ukraine with weapons and intelligence – leading to threats against the UK that Prime Minister Andy Burnham this week branded ‘outrageous’.
Putin’s conclusion is that he need to intensify his attacks on Ukraine, the three sources told Bloomberg.
At the weekend, he told a reporter that Ukraine had ‘opened this Pandora’s box’, and warned Kyiv: ‘Be ready to get a blowback on your most sensitive sectors of the economy.’
Now, growing number of Russian officials have concluded that Putin could eventually abandon the rules of modern warfare and hit the nuclear button, the sources said.
