According to a former Russian foreign minister, Vladimir Putin will only use nuclear weapons if he believes his country is facing a “existential threat.”
Nearly two months into the war, the president’s invasion of Ukraine continues to pour the blood of troops and civilians, but nuclear weapons have stayed off the table.

That does not rule out the possibility of their deployment, according to former Russian foreign minister Andrei Kozyrev, who has explained what Putin would need to deploy his nuclear weapons.

“They may be employed,” Kozyrev told Fox News Digital. “But only in very, very narrow instances.” If Russia or one of those nations feels truly threatened – existentially, that is – and NATO forces arrive in Moscow, then

Putin’s nukes, for the time being, are not thought to pose a threat.

“However, there is no existential threat to Russia under the current conditions,” Kozyrev concluded.

According to Brent Sadler, a senior scholar at the Heritage Foundation, Putin might conduct a tactical nuclear strike in Donbas if he suffers a “overwhelming military loss.”

“That may be the circumstance where a tactical nuclear bomb is regarded to demonstrate determination and essentially reverse any trends in the Russian military,” Sadler added.

“I don’t see them deploying city assassins because it would inevitably lead to World War III, and it’s assumed that if he does, he’ll be targeting NATO.”

On Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Putin’s nuclear weapons threats should alarm “all countries.”

In reaction to Finland and Sweden expressing interest in joining NATO, Putin reminded the world of the nuclear might at his fingertips.

According to Kozyrev, who published ‘The Firebird: The Elusive Fate of Russian Democracy,’ Putin is all bark and no bite.

“Responsible military commanders will do all possible to avoid such a catastrophe and to avert the deployment of nuclear weapons unless they consider their homeland faces an existential threat,” he added.