As the Russia-Ukraine battle raged in 2022, the United States started “preparing rigorously” for a possible nuclear strike by Russia against Ukraine, reported CNN, citing two senior administration officials. This would have been the first nuclear attack since the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly eighty years ago.
Outreach from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other countries played an important role in averting the crisis, the report stated. The US government was worried that Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, the officials said.
Amid the suspicions, the United States of America sought to enlist the support of non-allies, including India, to discourage Russia from such an attack, reported CNN.
“One of the things we did was not only message them directly but strongly urge, press, encourage other countries, to whom they might be more attentive, to do the same thing,” the senior administration official said.
Outreach and public statements from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others helped prevent a crisis, said US officials.
“I think the fact that we know, India weighed in, China weighed in, others weighed in, may have had some effect on their thinking,” CNN quoted a senior administration official as saying.
Last year, on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan, in a major statement, PM Narendra Modi told President Vladimir Putin that “this is not the era of war”. During India’s G20 presidency, the statement was reiterated.
On February 24, 2022, Russia attacked Ukraine. The invasion became the largest aggression on a European country since World War II.