KYIV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Wednesday he did not believe Russia’s President Vladimir Putin would use nuclear weapons.
Putin has warned repeatedly that Russia has the right to defend itself using any weapons in its arsenal, which includes the world’s largest nuclear stockpile. Russia’s setbacks in the war in Ukraine have heightened Western concerns that Putin might use a tactical nuclear weapon.
“My personal opinion is that Putin won’t use nukes,” Reznikov told a news briefing when asked about the issue.
(Reporting by Max Hunder; Writing by Gareth Jones)