Is Russia considering using nuclear weapons in Ukraine?

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia August 26, 2026. (Picture: Reuters)
Vladimir Putin is reportedly hellbent on a new escalation (Picture: Reuters)

There are fears that Russia could be considering using nuclear weapons in Ukraine as talks fail and strikes inside the country increase.

Sources close to the Kremlin told Bloomberg that Vladimir Putin is hellbent on a new escalation after peace talks have reached a dead end.

And Russia is continuing to experience mounting unprecedented attacks across the nation on oil and gas infrastructure, ports and military sites. 

If used, Russia would likely choose to use tactical nuclear weapons, which are much less powerful than the bombs used to flatten cities in Japan at the end of World War II.

A trip by CIA Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow this week was seen as a warning to the regime against any plan it may have to escalate the conflict.

Ratcliffe is rumoured to have warned Putin against ‘testing NATO’s resolve’ by staging a limited attack in the Baltics.

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Russia readies new test of its nuclear-powered Burevestnik ???flying Chernobyl??? missile as OSINT analysts spot support aircraft and ships around the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Russian Arctic. The picture shows a Burevestnik missile test in October 2019.
Russia has been open about its nuclear weapons stockpile (Picture: e2w)

Neither Washington nor Moscow commented on the nature of the visit, but in-person discussions between officials from the two nations are relatively rare.

Russia has launched a number of drones and covert UAVs towards the UK and Europe in recent years.

The International Institute of Strategic Studies issued a sobering report in which they found Vladimir Putin’s shadow fleet ships sent drones into Britain and Europe, targeting airports, bases and nuclear sites.

The Kremlin has been quite outspoken about threats against multiple NATO nations, promising to nuke them on numerous occasions.

Russia readies new test of its nuclear-powered Burevestnik ???flying Chernobyl??? missile as OSINT analysts spot support aircraft and ships around the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Russian Arctic. The picture shows a Burevestnik missile test in October 2019.
Russia has tested its ‘flying Chernobyl’ missile multiple times (Picture: e2w)

Many of Putin’s propagandists have gone on television to issue threats directly to the United States and the United Kingdom.

Dmitry Kiselyov previously warned that if a Western power deploys soldiers on the ground in Ukraine to ‘inflict a strategic defeat on Russia’, it would result in an Armageddon.

Kiselyov said: ‘If Nato countries send their troops into Ukraine in order to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, then the very moment about which Putin once said, “Why do we need the world, if there is no Russia in it?” would come.

‌’Then everything [all types of missile] would be launched by us, in every direction – Sarmats [Satan-2s], Yars, and Avangards.

‌’American decision-making centres, and launchers on land and at sea are already in their sights. ‌France as a nuclear power will have to be disarmed instantly. The British Isles will simply go under water.

‌’There are technologies for this… but it’s better not to let things get to that point.’

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