Andrew Marr: Are we really on the edge of full-scale nuclear war?

10 October 2022, 18:17

Russia's latest attacks on Kyiv suggest Putin has realised it is "simply too dangerous" to go nuclear, Andrew Marr has said.

Opening LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the presenter reflected on the latest events in Ukraine, with Russia hitting the capital for the first time in months and the wider threat of using nuclear weapons still on the cards.

"Over the weekend, I suspect almost every thinking person in the country was wondering what Putin's reaction would be after those images of the blazing and badly destroyed bridge between Russia and Crimea - this, the Kerkc bridge was his pet project and one the Russians had boasted was very heavily defended," Andrew said.

"Not heavily enough.

"The big questions: would Putin use nuclear weapons in retaliation? And if so, what would NATO do?

"President Biden, no less, said the world now faced the prospect of Armageddon in a way it hadn't since the Cuban missile crisis of 1963.

"In short, are we really on the edge of full-scale nuclear war?"

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Andrew Marr: Are we really on the edge of full-scale nuclear war?

Andrew continued: "Part of the answer came today when Russia began to rain down highly sophisticated and expensive but conventionally armed cruise missiles on Kyiv and other Ukrainian towns.

"Putin called it 'a massive missile strike using long-distance air, sea and land based high-precision weapons' and warned that if terrorist attacks continued the Russian response would be equally great.

"Russian commanders boasted that the missiles had hit their targets - which was interesting because what they hit were a children's playground, a bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, part of a university, a German visa office and the electricity supply for at least one hospital.

"You could be forgiven for thinking this was random terrorism against the civilian population, designed to soothe hurt Russian pride.

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"President Zelenskyy said the Russians wanted only 'panic and chaos' but there is a wider issue here.

"Do these conventional attacks - 83 missiles were launched today - mean the Kremlin has decided not to go nuclear - that that is simply too dangerous and would infuriate key allies like China's president Xi?

"Has Putin concluded that his biggest problem is the alliance between president Zelenskyy and the West and that in order to stop the flow of Weapons, he has to somehow break the Ukrainians' will to fight?

"No later in the show will be discussing British politics, from dramatic news in the markets and from the Bank of England, through to Nicola Sturgeon's speech at the SNP conference.

"But frankly there's no bigger story today than the major escalation of the war in Ukraine."