Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine has not arisen, and that he hoped it would not arise.
In a fragment of an upcoming interview with Russian state television published on Telegram, Mr Putin said that Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion”.
Responding to a question about Ukrainian strikes on Russia from a state television reporter, Mr Putin said: “There has been no need to use those (nuclear) weapons … and I hope they will not be required.”
He said: “We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires.”
Mr Putin in February 2022 ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine, in what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” against its neighbour.
Though Russian troops were repelled from Kyiv, Moscow’s forces currently control around 20% of Ukraine, including much of the south and east.
Mr Putin has in recent weeks expressed willingness to negotiate a peace settlement, as US President Donald Trump has said he wants to end the conflict via diplomatic means.
Fear of nuclear escalation has been a factor in US officials’ thinking since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. Former CIA Director William Burns has said there was a real risk in late 2022 that Russia could use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Russian drone attack on Kyiv injures 11, causes fires in housing blocks, Ukraine says
Meanwhile, a Russian overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s capital injured at least 11 people, including two children, and President Volodymyr Zelensky called for a real ceasefire lasting at least a month in the more than three-year-old war.
Mr Putin last week declared a three-day ceasefire for 8-10 May to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two, a move appeared aimed at signalling that Russia is still interested in peace.
Mr Zelensky reiterated his calls for a longer halt in the fighting that began when Moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“The Russians are calling for a ceasefire … while striking Ukraine every single day. This is top-level cynicism: just this week alone, Russia has used over 1,180 attack drones, 1,360 guided aerial bombs, and 10 missiles of various types against Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said on the X social media platform.
“If there’s a ceasefire – then not for their holidays, but for every day,” he added.
Falling debris from destroyed drones started fires at residential buildings in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on social media.
Ukraine’s emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app that 76 firefighters were involved in putting out the overnight fires in the city, which also included a small blaze in the central Shevchenkivskyi district.
It posted photos of firefighters battling large blazes at night at what appeared to be a residential building.
The emergency service also said several cars across the city were set alight by falling drone debris.
Reuters’ witnesses heard several explosions in what sounded like air defence systems in operation.
The Ukrainian military said its air defence units shot down 69 of 165 drones launched by Russia overnight.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow about the attack.
In addition to Kyiv, drones attacked Cherkasy in central Ukraine, where according to national television 15 of the 22 drones targeting the city were shot down. Emergency services said one person had been injured, with damage to residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
“The regional centre was hit the hardest. Residential infrastructure, furniture factory warehouses, a trading centre and garden buildings were damaged,” Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny targeting civilians in the war that began in February 2022.
Ukraine destroys electrical equipment factory in Russia’s Bryansk region, governor says
Ukrainian forces struck a factory in Russia’s Bryansk region destroying much of the facility, the local governor said.
In a statement on Telegram, governor Alexander Bogomaz, whose Bryansk region borders both Ukraine and Belarus in the far west of Russia, said that the workshops and administrative buildings of the factory in the village of Suzemka had been destroyed.
There were no casualties, he said.
Mash, a Telegram channel with links to Russia’s security services, said that the factory produces electrical equipment, including transformers. It said it had been struck with a Grad rocket system.
Mash posted video of a large plume of smoke, coiling above a factory. Reuters was unable to verify the footage.
Ukraine has struck Russian industrial facilities that it accuse of producing equipment for Moscow’s military campaign in Ukraine since the beginning of full-scale hostilities in February 2022.
