CIA and UK spy chiefs praised Ukraine’s “audacious” incursion into Russia and said the West won’t be intimidated by Putin’s saber rattling

There was a real danger that Russia would use tactical nuclear weapons two years ago after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine faltered, CIA Director William Burns said on Saturday.

There was a real danger that Russia would use tactical nuclear weapons two years ago after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine faltered, CIA Director William Burns said on Saturday.

Burns, speaking in London alongside his British counterpart, Richard Moore, head of the MI6 foreign intelligence service, also said Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region represented a “significant tactical achievement” that undermined Russian President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda about how the war was unfolding.

Ukrainian troops crossed into Russia’s Kursk region last month with armored vehicles and aerial support, seizing land and taking prisoners of war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC News this week that Kyiv plans on holding indefinitely the territories it has seized.

Burns said the United States takes seriously the possibility of Russia resorting to nuclear weapons.

“None of us should take lightly the risks of escalation,” Burns said at a Financial Times event. “There was a moment in the fall of 2022 when I think there was a genuine risk of . . . the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/cia-william-burns-mi6-richard-moore-rcna170058

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