Russian commanders discussed using nuclear arms in Ukraine, says US

Senior Russian subject leaders discussed past period however and erstwhile they mightiness usage atomic weapons connected the battlefield successful Ukraine, 2 US officials person told CBS News.

Vladimir Putin was not progressive successful the talks, they told the BBC's US partner.

The White House said it had grown "increasingly concerned" astir the imaginable usage of atomic weapons implicit the past fewer months.

But it stressed the US saw nary motion of Russia preparing for specified use.

That chimes with earlier Western quality assessments that Moscow has not been moving its atomic weapons.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov accused the West of "deliberately pumping up the topic", though the timing of the high-level Russian subject discussions successful mid-October is significant.

By precocious September President Putin had escalated his atomic and anti-Western rhetoric, talking astir utilizing each means astatine his disposal to support Russia and the occupied Ukrainian lands helium had annexed.

"This is not a bluff," helium said, accusing the West of unleashing atomic blackmail and boasting of Russian weapons that were much modern than immoderate successful Nato's armoury.

Responding to US media reports that Russia had discussed utilizing atomic weapons, White House nationalist information spokesperson John Kirby said: "We person grown progressively acrophobic astir the imaginable arsenic these months person gone on."

As Russia's fortunes connected the battlefield person waned, its atomic threats look to person increased.

Moscow has accused Ukraine of preparing a "dirty bomb", laced with radioactive material, though Ukraine and the West accidental Russia is simply trying to make a pretext to blasted Kyiv if specified a instrumentality is used.

Russia's Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu, made a constituent of contacting his counterparts successful the US, Turkey and France to speech astir the alleged Ukrainian plot. However, When Russia's defence ministry produced photos to exemplify its findings, the authorities of Slovenia rapidly pointed retired that the images had been borrowed from its Radioactive Waste Management Agency and showed fume detectors dating backmost to 2010.

In caller weeks, Russia's atomic doctrine has travel nether adjacent scrutiny connected the circumstances successful which it could usage atomic arms, successful peculiar a "tactical" limb that mightiness beryllium unleashed connected the battlefield successful Ukraine.

A tactical atomic limb is for usage successful combat, arsenic opposed to the larger "strategic" weapons which are designed to origin monolithic destruction.

When Russia held regular atomic exercises past week, it was nether the script that it was retaliating to an enemy's atomic onslaught with a larger-scale strategical weapon. Mr Putin was adamant that Russia's atomic doctrine lone allowed the antiaircraft usage of atomic arms.

But connected Tuesday the lawman caput of Russia's information council, Dmitry Medvedev, highlighted different constituent of Russia's doctrine - atomic usage successful the lawsuit of an existential menace to the state. He pointed retired that Ukraine's warfare aims were to retrieve each the territories that antecedently belonged to it, and that successful itself was an existential threat.

Mr Medvedev whitethorn not needfully person the president's ear, but his comments bash bespeak Mr Putin's content that formally annexing ample areas of confederate and eastbound Ukraine has made them Russian territory, adjacent if they are not recognised arsenic portion of Russia by the planetary community.

And successful a connection connected Wednesday, the Russian overseas ministry reiterated that Moscow was entitled to usage atomic weapons successful effect to "an aggression with the usage of accepted weapons erstwhile the precise beingness of the authorities is successful jeopardy".

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said determination would beryllium "severe consequences" if Russia utilized a tactical atomic limb connected the battlefield successful Ukraine. He told MPs helium would not speculate connected what those mightiness be.

Asked past week by the BBC to contradict categorically that Russia would usage atomic weapons successful Ukraine, the caput of the SVR overseas quality service, Sergei Naryshkin, said it was precise acrophobic astir Western rhetoric and accused Ukraine's enactment of trying to get atomic arms.