US intelligence confirmed that the US decision to allow Ukraine to launch US weapons deep into Russia did not increase the risk of a nuclear attack, but officials believed that the matter was likely to push Moscow to launch a campaign against European targets, according to what Reuters reported yesterday, Wednesday, from 5 US officials.
Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin’s increasing threats to use nuclear weapons, US intelligence assessments over the past seven months have concluded that easing or increasing restrictions on Ukraine’s use of US weapons will not lead to nuclear escalation, according to US officials.
US intelligence assessments indicated that Russia would not resort to nuclear escalation because it did not see this as having a clear military benefit, and intelligence officials described the nuclear option as Putin’s last resort.
An American official explained that Russia’s pursuit of escalation in what it sees as identical to the American and Western escalation without using its nuclear forces is what prompted it to launch the new ballistic missile last week.
‘Fears are exaggerated’
American officials pointed out that US fears of Russian nuclear escalation were exaggerated, which led to the delay in allowing Kiev to use Western weapons.
But they pointed out that officials at the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) still believe that allowing Kiev to use Western weapons deep into Russia could lead to Russian attacks on US bases.
Reuters quoted a European diplomat as saying that the Russian response to Kiev’s use of Western weapons by targeting its depth would be through what he described as sabotage and intimidation of Western countries supporting Ukraine, especially through cyber attacks.
Ukraine began using long-range American Atakum missiles to strike Russia on November 19, in addition to British-made Storm Shadow missiles two days later, after receiving the green light from its Western allies, in response to the deployment of North Korean forces on the Russian side of the country. border.
Moscow – which considered this a red line – responded by launching a medium-range ballistic missile (range of up to 5,500 km) on November 21 at a military factory in the city of Dnipro in central-eastern Ukraine.