Putin is considering the possibility of launching more powerful strikes on Kyiv, including with nuclear weapons — media reports

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is considering the possibility of launching more powerful ballistic missile strikes against Kyiv, including with tactical nuclear weapons. Bloomberg writes this, citing sources, reports UNN. 

Russia is preparing to escalate its attacks on Ukraine, having concluded that negotiations on a peace deal have reached an impasse. Russia is currently considering intensifying powerful conventional ballistic missile strikes against Kyiv, including the center of the capital, as well as infrastructure facilities in other Ukrainian cities 

The sources also note that all negotiation frameworks have effectively failed, and both sides of the conflict have returned to the starting point. They also said that Putin will not end the war under the economic pressure of sanctions and Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil refineries and logistics networks.

The sources also report that Moscow increasingly views Ukrainian strikes as attacks by NATO countries, since Alliance members are supplying Kyiv with weapons and intelligence. They noted that the current phase of hostilities is not the peak of military escalation.

As noted, U.S. efforts to end the war have not led to a breakthrough, and negotiations have reached an impasse because President Donald Trump has focused on the conflict with Iran. The Kremlin also backed away from what it believed was an agreement reached between Putin and Trump during their summit in Alaska last August.

This would mean that the United States would have to pressure Ukraine to surrender Donetsk Oblast as part of a deal to end the war. Ukraine has consistently rejected Putin’s demand to hand over the "fortress belt of cities" in Donetsk Oblast that Russian forces have failed to capture during hostilities since 2014.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made it clear in June that Washington does not share Russia’s position, stating: "If a deal had been reached, the war would already be over". 

According to sources close to the Kremlin, in the absence of diplomatic efforts, Moscow sees few alternatives to further escalating the conflict in order to achieve its military objectives. Although Russia hopes that Kushner and Witkoff will come to Moscow with new proposals, expectations of a breakthrough are very low. 

The sources also note that the Kremlin believes it has already made concessions during the war and that each of them has weakened Russia’s position. In their view, Anchorage was seen as another compromise that failed.

In addition, the interlocutors note that the escalation of strikes is leading an increasing number of Russian officials to conclude that Putin may ultimately decide to use tactical nuclear weapons as a last resort in Ukraine.

The risk that Putin will violate the global taboo on the use of nuclear weapons in wartime, which has existed since the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, has long been a serious concern among Western officials. The volume of talk in Moscow from "hawks" advocating such a step has intensified recently. An extreme response is considered possible because the only outcome worse than continuing the war under Putin would be losing it 

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American journalist Michael Weiss suggested that CIA Director John Ratcliffe may have arrived in Moscow to warn the Russian leadership that further escalation against European countries and NATO is unacceptable.