Potential US responses to the Russian use of non-strategic nuclear weapons in Ukraine
Posted: 19th May 2022
By Jeffrey Edmonds | May 16, 2022
A launch of the Russian Iskander-M, which can carry a tactical nuclear warhead, at the Kapustin Yar proving ground in March 2018. Photo credit: the websites (mil.ru, минобороны.рф) of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.
When the rhetoric from the Russian political and military leadership turns to the possibility of a war pitting the United States and its NATO allies against Russia, the mention of nuclear weapons is usually close behind. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently raised the nuclear specter over the Ukraine war, insisting that NATO is engaging in a proxy war with Russia. While insisting that Russia seeks to avoid nuclear war at all costs, he warned that the “danger is serious, real, and we must not underestimate it.”