Russia earlier vowed to retaliate against Ukraine’s use of American-made missiles
The US believes it is unlikely that Russia would use nuclear weapons in response to Ukraine’s strikes deep into its territory with Western-supplied missiles, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing five people familiar with American intelligence.
According to the news agency, for several months US officials had been locked in “an often divisive” debate as to whether outgoing President Joe Biden should finally authorize Kiev to strike internationally recognized Russian territory with American-made ATACMS missiles. While some in the White House, Pentagon and State Department initially “feared lethal retaliation” against American or allied military bases and diplomats, sources told Reuters that “escalation concerns, including the nuclear fears, were overblown.”
