US rigorously prepared for Russia's potential use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine in 2022 – CNN

The United States began "preparing rigorously" in late 2022 for a possible Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine, which would be the first nuclear attack in any war since the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki almost eighty years ago.

Source: CNN, citing senior US administration officials

Details: The officials said the Biden administration was particularly concerned that Russia might use tactical or battlefield nuclear weapons.

CNN reported that the Biden administration was prompted to make this dramatic assessment not by a single indicator but by a combination of events, analysis, and "highly sensitive new intelligence".

Another senior administration official told reporters that the administration's fear "was not just hypothetical – it was also based on some information that we picked up".

They wanted to have a plan to be "in the best possible position" if Russia used nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine. In this period, from late summer to autumn 2022, the US National Security Council convened a series of meetings to develop contingency plans if Russia used nuclear weapons or if there was a clear indication that they were going to do so.

One of the arguments in favour of Russian President Vladimir Putin's use of nuclear weapons was the loss of the city of Kherson, which the Russians claimed was their territory and, based on their doctrine, could lead to the use of nuclear weapons.

At that time, Russia's propaganda machine was spreading a new fake story about a "Ukrainian dirty bomb", which, US officials said, could have been a cover for a potential Russian nuclear attack.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made a series of phone calls to defence officials in the US, UK, France and Türkiye in October 2022, notifying them that the Kremlin was "concerned about possible provocations by Kyiv involving the use of a dirty bomb".

The US rejected these Russian claims but questioned the motivation behind them.

However, CNN stressed that "at no time did the US detect intelligence indicating Russia was taking steps to mobilise its nuclear forces to carry out such an attack".

Quote: "We obviously placed a high priority on tracking and had some ability at least to track such movements of its [Russia’s] nuclear forces.

And at no point did we ever see any indications of types of steps that we would’ve expected them to take if they were going down a path toward using nuclear weapons."

More details: However, US officials remained uncertain whether Russia was or wasn’t moving tactical nuclear weapons.

Unlike strategic nuclear weapons, capable of destroying entire cities, tactical or battlefield nuclear weapons are small enough to be covertly moved and employed from conventional systems already deployed on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The United States has also worked closely with its allies to both develop contingency plans for a Russian nuclear attack and to convey warnings to Russia about the consequences of such an attack.

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