Vladimir Putin, reflecting on his 25 years in power, recently spoke about the ongoing war in Ukraine and how he believes it may ultimately be resolved.
Tensions between Russia and Ukraine reached a critical point in 2022 when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of its neighboring country. Since then, the possibility of nuclear escalation has loomed large due to Russia’s vast arsenal of nuclear weapons.
In November last year, Putin signed an updated version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine. The revised policy lowered the threshold for deploying nuclear weapons, allowing for their use in response to conventional attacks—if such attacks are supported by a nuclear-armed nation. This shift heightened global concerns over the potential for the conflict to spiral into a nuclear confrontation.
In a recent interview with Russian state television, Putin addressed these fears directly, offering his personal assessment on whether he views the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine as a likely scenario.
Vladimir Putin discussed the possibility of using nuclear weapons against Ukraine (Contributor/Getty Images)
He said: “There has been no need to use those [nuclear] weapons … and I hope they will not be required.”
“We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires.”
Putin also addressed the annexing of Crimea back in 2014 and said the reason Russia didn’t launch a full scale invasion was because it was ‘practically unrealistic’.
He said: “The country was not ready for such a frontal confrontation with the entire collective West.”
He also said Russia ‘sincerely sought to solve the problem of Donbas by peaceful means’.
Despite Putin’s confidence the conflict will come to an end with Russia satisfied, it is not clear how long this will take.
Taking to Truth Social, US President Donald Trump said back in late April that he had concerns Russia did not want to end the conflict, despite peace talks being ongoing.
Trump commented: “There was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
Donald Trump has previously hit out at Putin over attacks on Ukraine while they try and sort a peace deal (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Vice president JD Vance has also said recently that he expected the conflict to go on a bit while longer as Russia and Ukraine want different things.
Speaking to Fox News on May 1, Vance weighed in on the progress that has been made towards that goal.
He said: “It’s going to be up to them [Ukraine and Russia] to come to an agreement and stop this brutal, brutal conflict. It’s not going anywhere. It’s not going to end anytime soon.
“Of course, they [the Ukrainians] are angry that they were invaded, but are we going to continue to lose thousands and thousands of soldiers over a few miles of territory this or that way? I hope both of them come to their senses.”
