Russia has long been in crisis, and maintaining nuclear weapons requires a lot of money, upgrades, and periodic testing. Therefore, there are suspicions that the Russian nuclear potential is actually a myth, similar to the one concerning the Russian armed forces, – believes Ukrainian colonel Viktor Kevlyuk, an expert of the Center for Defense Strategies in Kyiv, quoted by Rador.

In an interview with the RBC-Ukraine agency, the expert recalled the agreement concluded in the early 1990s between Russia and the United States (Program from megatons to megawatts, No. Then the Russian Federation undertook to abandon a significant part of its nuclear potential, and the United States to purchase low-enriched uranium , to then turn it into fuel for their nuclear power plants.

“Does Russia still have nuclear weapons that are functional and ready for use? There are opinions that everything that was more or less ready for combat was bought, made safe and used to generate electricity…” he explained. Kevlyuk

Also, according to the Ukrainian military expert, the maintenance of nuclear weapons requires a lot of money. For example, the Russian Satan missile, which is manufactured in Dnipro (Ukraine), has been without quality maintenance since 2012.

“There is no certainty that they can still fly somewhere… There are suspicions that the Russian nuclear potential is a myth, as is the case with their armed forces. That is, there are many more questions than answers,” he emphasized. expert.

In addition, Kevlyuk noted that after the collapse of the USSR, Russia managed to implement only a few military nuclear projects – “Topol”, “Yars” and submarines “Syneva” and “Bulava”.

“The rest are good presentations, a lot of conversations and PR, but no one has seen a real example that can prove something on the battlefield,” Viktor Kevlyuk added.

Tactical nuclear weapons

In recent days, the version about the possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine has gained strength. Putin is “showing off now,” Prague-based military analyst Yuri Fedorov told Reuters.

“We have not seen any signs or activity that would lead us to believe that this is anything out of the ordinary. We have not seen any activity that would go beyond the scope of activities carried out by these elements of the Russian strategic forces,” the official, who wished to remain anonymous, told reporters.

“But what will happen in a week or a month, it’s hard to say when he will realize that the war is lost,” he says.

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An intercontinental ballistic missile on parade on Red Square in Moscow Photo: Yuriy Kadobnov / AFP / Profimedia Images

While no Russian official has spoken about the possibility of using nuclear weapons, the Kremlin has several options, such as dropping tactical nuclear weapons from aircraft or launching missiles from land, ships or submarines.

Tactical nuclear weapons are those that are used on the battlefield for a “tactical” purpose and do not have the destructive potential of large nuclear bombs capable of destroying entire cities and plunging the world into an apocalyptic nightmare.

How many nuclear weapons does Russia have?

According to the Federation of American Scientists, Russia is the largest nuclear power in the world in terms of the number of nuclear warheads: it has 5,977 nuclear warheads, while the United States has 5,428.

These numbers include stockpiled and scrapped warheads, but both Moscow and Washington have enough firepower to destroy the world many times over.

According to the most recently released figures, Russia has 1,458 deployed or ready-to-fire strategic nuclear warheads, while the United States has 1,389 deployed warheads. These warheads are on ICBMs, submarine-launched ballistic missiles, and strategic bombers.

Russia has approximately 10 times more tactical nuclear weapons than the United States. About half of America’s 200 tactical nuclear weapons are based in Europe.

US tactical nuclear weapons range in yield from 0.3 to 170 kilotons (the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima was equivalent to about 15 kilotons of dynamite).

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