Fears grow Putin will explode nuke near Ukraine as defence secretary holds crisis talks in Washington
19 October 2022, 08:26 | Updated: 19 October 2022, 09:43
Vladimir Putin is feared to be inching towards exploding a nuclear weapon over the Black Sea in a show of force over Ukraine.
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Britain's defence secretary Ben Wallace flew to Washington for crisis talks as a security source told The Sun the threat "has increased recently".
There have been ongoing worries about what Putin would do as he is increasingly backed into a corner following humiliating battlefield defeats against Kyiv.
A blast in the Black Sea would mean it would take place south of Ukraine and east of Nato members Romania and Bulgaria.
The invasion he launched in February has proved to be a disaster as his soldiers are humiliated repeatedly against Ukraine's brave defenders.
But under pressure to keep his position in the Kremlin secure and to hold off far-right military bloggers, he might be on the brink of doing the unthinkable.
Nuclear sabre-rattling has increased the tension after Putin annexed four regions of Ukraine that he does not even fully control, leading to fears he would consider using weapons of mass destruction to defend what he views as Russia.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said on Tuesday: "All these territories are inalienable parts of the Russian Federation and they are all protected.
"Their security is provided for at the same level as the rest of Russia's territory."
Meanwhile, The Sun said an RAF RC-135W spy plane flew close to the occupied peninsula of Crimea this week.
It is capable of detecting radioactivity in the atmosphere.
In more depraved acts from the Russian president, he has taken to terror bombing Ukraine.
It is thought that he is targeting energy infrastructure to plunge the country into the cold ahead of winter.
The use of kamikaze drones supplied by Iran has also gained prominence, with police officers seen trying to shoot down the flying bombs as they buzz down on Kyiv.
James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, said: "Putin failed to capture Ukrainian towns and cities with tanks, now he tries cowardly drone attacks.
"These are the desperate acts of a man losing a war on the battlefield. It's why we sent air defence missiles. He won't break the Ukrainians or our resolve to stand with them."
