According to a US report, Vladimir Putin of Russia was talked out of attacking Ukraine with a nuclear weapon by Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping

According to a US media story, Russian nuclear strikes on Ukraine in late 2022 were deterred by outreach and public remarks made by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Russia was losing land it had taken in Ukraine, so the US estimated that it might launch a tactical nuclear attack.

According to US sources cited by the media outlet, the US not only sent a direct message to Moscow but also put tremendous pressure on other nations that Moscow could be willing to hear. They contend that pressure from the Global South as well as the US and the West prevented Russia from proceeding.

By late 2022, Russia was falling behind, according to US estimates. Kherson, under Russian occupation in the south, was at risk of falling to Ukrainian troops. There was a chance that several of the Russian forces would be besieged. The Biden administration believed that Russia might deploy nuclear weapons as a result of such a severe setback.

When claims of a Ukrainian dirty bomb started to surface in Russian media, the US government raised an alert. US authorities believed that this may be a pretext for a nuclear attack by Russia. Sergei Shoigu, the Russian Minister of Defense, also spoke with his colleagues in the US, UK, France, and Turkey, bringing up the potential that Ukraine was preparing to deploy a dirty bomb.

Although the western nations disregarded Shoigu’s advice, they immediately started outreach efforts. US Joint Chiefs Chairman General Mark Milley phoned his Russian counterpart, General Valery Gerasimov, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken conveyed US concerns to his colleague Sergey Lavrov. According to the media story, they also pressured leaders of the Global South, such as PM Modi and Xi, to utilize their positive relations with the Kremlin to talk Moscow out of launching a nuclear attack.