Russian President Vladimir Putin believes he cannot afford to lose the war against Ukraine. He is “doubling down” on the war, but so far shows no signs of planning to use nuclear tactical weapons, - France 24 quoted CIA Director Bill Burns’s speech at a Financial Times conference.
Burns believes that despite the failure to capture Kyiv, Putin still believes that his troops can defeat the Ukrainians. His belief in the Russian military's ability to wear down Ukrainian resistance probably has not been shaken despite key battlefield defeats, the head of the Central Intelligence Agency added.
According to Burns, Putin has been "stewing" for years over Ukraine -- once part of the Soviet Union -- in a "very combustible combination of grievance and ambition and insecurity."
"I think he's in a frame of mind in which he doesn't believe he can afford to lose," Burns said.
He added that other Western intelligence services also saw no sign that Moscow was ready to deploy nuclear tactical weapons to defeat Ukraine or strike at allies.
Russia's nuclear forces have been on high alert since February.
We don't see, as an intelligence community, practical evidence at this point of Russian planning for the deployment or even potential use of tactical nuclear weapons," he said.
Burns noted that, however, such a possibility should not be taken lightly.
In April Burns said that because of the failures in the war against Ukraine, because of "potential despair", russian President Vladimir Putin, trying to create the appearance of victory in Ukraine, may order the use of nuclear weapons.
The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky believes that one cannot be sure that russia will or will not use nuclear weapons. After the russian shelling of Ukrainian nuclear power plants, it is impossible to be sure that they will not dare to launch a nuclear strike, he said.