Desperate Putin Could Nuke Six Ukrainian Cities to Try to Win War

Vladimir Putin could use nuclear weapons against "a half-dozen cities in western Ukraine" in a last-ditch bid to avoid military defeat, according to an expert on nuclear war.

Russia's military has suffered a number of battlefield reverses, with Ukrainian troops advancing on the southern city of Kherson after routing Russian forces in the Kharkiv region in September.

This has sparked growing concerns that the Kremlin could resort to nuclear attacks, with U.S. President Joe Biden warning the risk of nuclear war is at its highest since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.

Speaking on Thursday in New York, the president said: "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis [in 1962]."

Referring to Putin, Biden added: "We've got a guy I know fairly well. He's not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming."

Professor Eric G. Swedin, who teaches history at Weber State University, told Newsweek he didn't think Putin could deploy tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield, or in a "demonstration strike" intended to intimidate Ukraine and the West. Instead, Swedin said Putin would likely go straight to direct attacks on major Ukrainian cities.

"I am worried that Putin is being backed into a corner on Ukraine as his armed forces face defeat," said Swedin. "He could easily choose to lash out with tactical nuclear weapons in a desperate attempt to change the outcome.

"My suspicion is that he will not make a demonstration strike, as some have proposed, because a demonstration strike just shows that you are unwilling to use your nuclear weapons.

This chart, provided by Statista, shows estimated global nuclear warhead inventories.

"Using tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield is difficult and require well-trained soldiers to exploit the use of such weapons; the Russians are not in any position to take advantage of such strikes," said Swedin.

"The most likely use of the weapons would be to hit a half-dozen cities in western Ukraine, damaging the ability of weapons and supplies to flow in from Poland or Romania."

Tactical nuclear bombs are significantly smaller than the strategic variety created to devastate cities, and are designed for battlefield use. However, if used, the weapons would break the taboo on nuclear warfare that has been in place since the 1945 U.S. attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Swedin is author of Survive the Bomb: The Radioactive Citizen's Guide to Nuclear Survival and When Angels Wept: A What-If History of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The historian said tactical nuclear strikes would "probably not" result in a Ukrainian surrender, which could mean "a frustrated Putin will be inclined to escalate and use even more tactical nuclear weapons."

To deter this, Swedin said Western powers should make clear that nuclear-weapon use will not stop them from supporting Kyiv.

"My hope would be that the whole world would react to Putin crossing a line that meant that Russia would now be a pariah state," Swedin said. "All trade would cease, regardless of the economic consequences on domestic economies around the world, to force a collapse of the Russian economy and regime change.

"NATO should react by sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine and continuing to send weapons for the country to defend itself. Any stronger reaction would put us on the escalation ladder, and playing chicken with nuclear weapons is a no-win situation."

On Saturday, Ramzan Kadyrov, the pro-Putin strongman who rules Russia's Chechen Republic, said "low-yield nuclear weapons" should be used in the war against Ukraine.

Posting on social-media platform Telegram, Kadyrov said: "I don't know what the [Russian] Ministry of Defense reports to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, but in my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons.

"It is not necessary to take every decision with an eye on the Western American community - it has already said so and done a lot against us."

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry for comment.