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The Ukrainian war could be ended this year, but the consequence would be that Russia would use nuclear weapons if it lost the war. Photo/Twitter @DnKornev
Brigadier General (Purn) Kevin Ryan told Insider that he believed Russia would use nuclear weapons before allowing its military to be defeated on the ground.
Russian President Vlaidmir Putin has repeatedly hinted at using nuclear weapons since he ordered an invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which the Kremlin calls a “special military operation”.
But Ryan said the Kremlin might seriously consider using the weapons of mass destruction if Ukraine were to nearly annihilate Russian troops on the ground or if Ukrainian forces retook Crimea from Moscow’s control.
Also read: War Heats Up, Russia Deploys Land, Sea and Air Nuclear Weapons to Crimea
“If the Ukrainian military has a major success in the spring, and cuts off the Russian military and threatens to retake Crimea, then I think the Russian military and leadership will use nuclear weapons, to not only destroy Ukrainian military targets but to convince Ukraine that continuing this war will leave Ukraine as a nuclear disaster,” Ryan said.
He added that “the options are wide” as to how Russia might use nuclear weapons.
“The death rate could be close to that of Hiroshima, or it could be much lower if they only intended to fire something like a nuclear warning shot in a lightly populated area,” Ryan said.
This outcome, said Ryan, who serves as Russia’s defense attache to the US, would be “devastating” with the potential for the deaths of tens of thousands of lives – but that is not the most likely scenario.
The most likely scenario this year, according to Ryan, was that the war would end in a stalemate after relentless fighting and heavy losses on both sides.
