Russia-Ukraine war: PM Modi’s outreach to Putin prevented ‘potential nuclear attack’ on Ukraine

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s outreach, coupled with diplomatic efforts from various countries, played a pivotal role in preventing Russia from a “potential nuclear attack” on Ukraine, a CNN report said on Saturday.

As per the report, which cited two senior officials, the United States had been “preparing rigorously” for a potential nuclear strike by Russia on Ukraine when President Vladimir Putin’s army was facing ‘one setback after another’ on the battlefield.

The report citing US officials claimed that intervention from PM Modi and countries like China may have made Putin drop his plan of hitting Ukraine with a nuclear missile in 2022.

“US officials say that outreach and public statements from Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped avert a crisis,” the CNN report stated.

The report revealed that as Ukrainian forces closed in on Kherson, entire Russian units faced the risk of being surrounded.

Simultaneously, Moscow allegedly asserted that Ukraine might resort to using a dirty bomb. Within the US administration, the perception emerged that a devastating loss at Kherson could serve as a “potential trigger” for Russia to deploy nuclear weapons, and the dirty bomb claim might be a cover for such an attack, the report said.

To avert the crisis, the US sought support from non-allies, including India, to discourage Russia from taking such drastic measures.

“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,” a senior US administration official told CNN.

“I think the fact that we know, India weighed in, China weighed in, others weighed in, may have had some effect on their thinking,” the official said.

Notably, India has consistently condemned civilian killings and advocated for a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

In September 2022, PM Modi told Putin that “this is not the era of war” during the SCO summit in Uzbekistan, expressing a commitment to exploring paths towards peace.