Russia has issued fresh chilling nuclear threats as senior US officials warned Vladimir Putin that the war in Ukraine has become a “strategic disaster” for the Kremlin, with mounting battlefield losses and intensified NATO drills sharpening tensions between East and West.
At a tense session of the UN Security Council, Dan Negrea, the US representative, said Moscow’s invasion was now “a strategic disaster”, claiming Russian oil infrastructure was burning and that the country was sustaining heavy casualties.
“Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a strategic disaster,” he said. “Its oil refineries are ablaze and Russia is losing 35,000 people per month. Moscow cannot achieve its goals on the battlefield.”
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He warned that escalation would not reverse Russia’s trajectory. “Escalation will not change that and only risks making the disaster worse.
“This war must end now. Enough is enough,” he added.
But Moscow responded with an explicit escalation of its own rhetoric. Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin said Russia remained prepared to deploy nuclear weapons if it or Belarus — bound to Russia in the so-called “Union State” — faced perceived security threats.
“We are constantly ready to use all means, including nuclear ones, to ensure the security of the Union State,” he said, pointing to what the Kremlin claims is NATO military expansion near Russian and Belarusian borders.
The comments came as NATO launched its major Ramstein Flag 2026 exercises, widely seen as a demonstration of alliance readiness amid growing fears of confrontation with Russia.
The rhetoric inside Russia hardened further in state-aligned media. Rossiyskaya Gazeta carried calls from military commentator Col Yuri Knutov urging the Kremlin to consider nuclear escalation and even the targeting of Ukrainian leadership.
He said that the Ukrainian leader is “an international terrorist, which in essence would free the hands of our special services for his liquidation.
“To these measures for neutralising aerial threats one can also add a change in the tactics of ground warfare.
“The mass use of drones is slowing the pace of our offensive. It forces us to disperse and conduct combat operations in small groups.
“My view is that we are approaching the moment when the question of using tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield will arise.”
Knutov described Ukraine’s increasing use of drones and long-range strikes as slowing Russian advances on the battlefield, arguing that Moscow’s forces were being forced into dispersed defensive formations.
He suggested the use of low-yield nuclear munitions in specific sectors to break Ukrainian defensive lines, claiming such strikes would allow Russian forces to regain momentum.
He said: “These do not necessarily have to be missiles with a warhead of ten kilotons.
“For example, we have 152mm shells with special [nuclear] warheads in service.
“That is, with low-yield charges.
“They should ensure our breakthrough in key directions.
“In other words, if we use them in three or four places in the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defences, then we are guaranteed to move forward because of the absence of fortifications and enemy manpower.
“At the same time, the level of use of tactical weapons would be minimal.
“Then we encircle and destroy what remains in the rear.”
He also urged heavier use of large conventional munitions, including FAB-series bombs, to “grind down” Ukrainian positions.
The remarks underline a growing strand of ultra-hardline commentary within Russia that increasingly frames the war not in terms of negotiated settlement, but escalation — even at a nuclear level.
Western officials, meanwhile, say Russia’s strategic position is deteriorating rather than improving, with sustained losses, infrastructure damage, and growing pressure from Ukrainian deep-strike operations.
Against that backdrop, the nuclear rhetoric is being viewed in Western capitals as both a warning and a signal of strain — as the Kremlin faces a war that has stretched far longer and proved far more costly than originally anticipated.
For now, however, the combination of NATO military exercises, escalating battlefield attrition, and renewed nuclear language from Moscow is reinforcing fears that the conflict is entering an even more volatile phase, with neither side showing signs of stepping back from escalation.
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