Warmongering despot Vladimir Putin may snap and go nuclear if he suffers further embarrassment in his botched invasion of Ukraine, a top US diplomat fears.
Rose Gottemoeller, a former Deputy Secretary General of NATO, warned the “unpredictable” Russian President could take drastic action a
And with nightmare consequences for the wider world, this may include unleashing a weapon of mass destruction – a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or any other weapon that can kill and cause significant harm.
Ms Gottemoeller, an expert Russia watcher, said: “I have to say watching President Putin and his coterie, I fear they will strike back now in unpredictable ways – in ways that may even involve weapons of mass destruction.”
She said she did not believe Putin would order the mobilisation of his intercontinental ballistic missiles or submarine-launched missiles, which could strike at the US.
But she said: “We’ve been concerned from the outset of this crisis, with Putin rattling the nuclear sabre, that he might put in play a demonstration strike, either a single strike over the Black Sea or a strike on a Ukrainian military facility.
“It would be to strike terror not only into hearts of Ukrainians but also the global partners and allies of the Ukraine. The goal would be to try and get the Ukrainians in their terror to capitulate.
"I do worry about that kind of scenario. I do think the Ukrainians will stay the course but we will all have to stay the course.”
Ukraine yesterday vowed to liberate all its territory and urged the West to speed up weapon deliveries.
President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed his troops have retaken more than 2,300 square miles from Russia in the east and the south since September.
Kyiv has now recaptured more territory in the past few days than Kremlin forces have taken since April.
In what some military experts see as a potential breakthrough in the war, Russia has admitted losing key cities in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.
And Ukraine’s forces are battling for control of towns in the Donbas region.
Serhiy Hayday, the exiled Ukrainian head of the Luhansk region, said yesterday fierce battles were raging in Lyman – a town east of Izyum and a major military command post from which Russian forces fled days earlier.
The region was used by Moscow for months as a staging area for its push to capture the last corner of Donbas.
If Kyiv retakes the area, it would make it all but impossible for Russia to encircle Ukrainian forces in the region.
In typical propagandist spin, Russia has described its troop withdrawal from the region as a “regrouping”.
