The United States was "carefully preparing" for the possibility of Russia potentially striking Ukraine with a nuclear weapon, two senior administration officials said, CNN reported.
The Biden administration was particularly concerned that Russia might use tactical or military nuclear weapons, the officials said. CNN reported that the conclusion about the risk of a nuclear attack "was drawn not from a single indicator, but from a combination of events, analysis and, most importantly, very important new intelligence." As one administration official put it, the concerns "were not just hypothetical." "We had to plan to be in the best possible position in case this now unthinkable event actually happened," the source said.
It is noted that from late summer to the fall of 2022, the US National Security Council held a series of meetings to develop action plans in the event of very clear signs that the Russians would attack with nuclear weapons. As the media point out, Washington believed that Russia might be considering a tactical nuclear strike as a means of deterring further losses in the occupied territories of Ukraine, as well as any potential attack on the Russian Federation itself.
Concerns in the White House arose in the late summer of 2022, when Ukrainian forces were advancing on the Russian-occupied southern city of Kherson. The city was Russia's biggest prize after the invasion, but was then in danger of being lost to a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Most importantly, as the Ukrainian forces advanced, entire Russian units were in danger of being encircled. The view within the administration was that such a catastrophic loss could be a "potential trigger" for the use of nuclear weapons. American officials were concerned that after Russian President Vladimir Putin
had told the Russian people that Kherson was now part of Russia itself, the loss of the city could give Moscow reason to consider a tactical nuclear strike as a deterrent against further losses of Russian-held territory in Ukraine.
The TV station recalls that at the same time the Russian propaganda machine was spreading a fake about a "Ukrainian dirty bomb". US officials feared it could be used as cover for a Russian nuclear attack. It is also noted that Western intelligence agencies received information that negotiations between Russian officials were taking place at the time, in which a nuclear strike was openly discussed.
However, the US has never received intelligence that Russia is taking steps to prepare its nuclear forces to carry out such an attack, CNN notes. /BGNES
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