Putin signals restraint on nuclear weapons but vows to finish Ukraine war on Russia’s terms

MOSCOW/KYIV: Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he hopes nuclear weapons will not be necessary in the ongoing war in Ukraine, even as he asserted Moscow has ample military capability to achieve its objectives without them.

“There has been no need to use those weapons… and I hope they will not be required,” Putin said in a state television documentary aired Sunday, marking 25 years of his rule. The remarks, while cautiously worded, come amid heightened global anxiety over Russia’s revised nuclear doctrine and its battlefield challenges in Ukraine.

Putin insisted Russia remains committed to concluding the conflict it began in 2022 “with the outcome Russia requires,” suggesting no shift in war aims despite the ongoing military stalemate and mounting casualties.

The statement comes just months after Russia quietly lowered the threshold for nuclear weapons use in its military doctrine, now allowing deployment in response to conventional threats if backed by nuclear-armed powers—a veiled reference to NATO support for Kyiv.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky responded Sunday with a renewed call for a 30-day ceasefire and condemned Moscow’s proposed 72-hour Victory Day truce as hollow posturing. “They call for symbolic ceasefires, then bomb Kyiv the next night,” Zelensky said, referencing drone and missile strikes that left 11 injured over the weekend.

The Ukrainian leader said his government remains open to negotiations but doubted Moscow’s sincerity. “Every truce they declare is followed by more violence. It’s a theatrical performance, not peace.”

In his interview, Putin also revisited the origins of the war, saying Russia avoided a larger confrontation in 2014 because it was not ready for a full-scale conflict with the West. Now, he said, reconciliation with Ukraine remains “inevitable,” though no clear diplomatic pathway is in sight.

Fighting continues to rage along the frontlines, with Ukraine reporting new civilian casualties from Russian airstrikes and Russia claiming it intercepted a dozen Ukrainian drones.

Analysts say Putin’s nuclear comments may be aimed at projecting strategic restraint while maintaining pressure on Kyiv and its Western backers. But they also underscore how thin the margin for miscalculation has become in a war that increasingly straddles the boundaries of conventional warfare and nuclear brinkmanship.