According to a new assessment by the Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency, President Vladimir Putin can be expected to threaten to use nuclear weapons against the West if Russia fails to achieve its goals in Ukraine using traditional weapons.
This was reported by Bloomberg.
"Protracted occupation of parts of Ukrainian territory threatens to sap Russian military manpower and reduce their modernized weapons arsenal, while consequent economic sanctions will probably throw Russia into prolonged economic depression and diplomatic isolation," Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
“The combination of Ukraine’s defiance and economic sanctions will threaten Russia’s “ability to produce modern precision-guided munitions,””- he said at a hearing in the House Armed Services Committee.
"As this war and its consequences slowly weaken Russian conventional strength,” Berrier added, “Russia likely will increasingly rely on its nuclear deterrent to signal the West and project strength to its internal and external audiences”.
"U.S. efforts to undermine Russia’s goals in Ukraine, combined with its perception that the United States is a nation in decline, could prompt Russia to engage in more aggressive actions not only in Ukraine itself, but also more broadly in its perceived confrontation with the West," - Berrier said.
According to him, in addition to seeking to intimidate Russia's adversaries, this reflects "Moscow's doctrinal views on the use of tactical, non-strategic nuclear weapons to compel an adversary" into pursuing negotiations "that may result in termination of the conflict on terms favorable to Russia" or deter other participants from entering the conflict”.
A key motivation for the invasion, he said, is Russia’s determination “to restore a sphere of influence over Ukraine and the other states of the former Soviet Union.”
He added that "despite greater than anticipated resistance from Ukraine and relatively high losses in the initial phases of the conflict, Moscow appears determined to press forward by using more lethal capabilities until the Ukrainian government is willing to come to terms favorable to Moscow”.
As of morning on March 18 Russia has already lost more than 14,200 personnel, 205 planes and helicopters in Ukraine.