Vladimir Putin could use Russia's Victory Day celebrations to deploy a tactical nuclear weapon against Ukraine as the country doubles down on its illegal invasion of its neighbour.
The Russian leader claimed the West was planning to invade his country as he sought to justify the war with Ukraine at the parade today in Moscow.
Weapons expert Hamish de Bretton-Gordon told Express.co.uk that Russia could use the military parade to intimidate the West and "change the shape of the war".
He said: “The biggest concern is perhaps the use or direct threat of use of a tactical [or] battlefield nuclear weapon.
"If things are still going so badly on May 9, which is likely, Putin could decide that a nuke is the only way to change the shape of the war.
“Western leaders have been slightly ambiguous about what would happen if Putin used a tactical nuke."
'Tactical' nuclear weapons is an umbrella term for a wide range of weaponry, including smaller bombs and missiles that are considered 'battlefield' weapons.
However, 'strategic' nukes refer to the bombs that the US and the USSR threatened to use against each other during the decades-long Cold War.
de Bretton-Gordon said: “I think we need them to state very clearly that even a small nuclear weapon would lead to NATO directly targeting strategic Russian targets with sophisticated conventional weapons.
“These targets would be any nuclear launchers in or around Ukraine, command and control sites, basically making further Russian advances in Ukraine untenable.”
He added: “For Putin, a tactical nuke could stop the war and bring all to the negotiating table and Russia could hang onto the southern area they now have.
“Many ‘hope’ that if Putin pressed the red button, there are people in the Kremlin who would then stand up and depose him.”
It comes as Vladimir Putin was accused of “mirroring” the actions of the Nazis by the UK defence secretary Ben Wallace as the Russian leader stages a military parade to celebrate victory over Hitler’s fascists.
Wallace will use a major speech to say that Putin and his inner circle should share the same fate as the Nazis, who ended up defeated and facing the Nuremberg trials for their atrocities.
In Moscow, Putin will watch the Victory Day parade of military hardware, marking the defeat of the Nazis in 1945.
But according to extracts briefed to the Telegraph and Times, Wallace will say: “Through their invasion of Ukraine, Putin, his inner circle and generals are now mirroring the fascism and tyranny of 70 years ago, repeating the errors of last century’s totalitarian regimes.”
He will add: “Their fate must also, surely, eventually be the same.”
Russia’s sacrifices in the past should not be forgotten, “but nor must the lessons about what lies in store for the perpetrators of such unprovoked brutality”.
In a message to Putin, he will say: “In going to such extremes to justify this war of choice he and his generals are now ripping up both Russia’s past and its future.
“Their unprovoked and illegal invasion of Ukraine, attacks against innocent citizens and their homes, and the widespread atrocities – including deliberately against women and children – corrupts the memory of past sacrifices and Russia’s once-proud global reputation.”
