Putin says he hopes there will be no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen and that he hopes it will not.

In comments aired Sunday in a film by Russian state television about his quarter of a century in power, Putin said Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion.”

Responding to a question about Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, Putin said: “There has been no need to use those (nuclear) weapons ... and I hope they will not be required.”

“We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires,” he said.

Putin signed a revamped version of Russia’s nuclear doctrine in November 2024, spelling out the circumstances that allow him to use Moscow’s atomic arsenal, the world’s largest. That version lowered the bar, giving him that option in response to even a conventional attack backed by a nuclear power.

In the film, Putin also said Russia did not launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine — what he called a “special military operation” — in 2014, when it illegally annexed Crimea, because it was “practically unrealistic.”

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“The country was not ready for such a frontal confrontation with the entire collective West,” he said. He claimed also that Russia “sincerely sought to solve the problem of Donbas by peaceful means.”

Putin said that reconciliation with Ukraine was “inevitable.”

11 wounded in attacks on Kyiv, 2 killed elsewhere

Russia and Ukraine, however, remain are at odds over competing ceasefire proposals.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, in comments made public Saturday, that Moscow’s announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II is merely an attempt to create a “soft atmosphere” ahead of Russia’s annual celebrations.

Zelenskyy instead renewed calls for a more substantial 30-day pause in hostilities, as the U.S. had initially proposed. He said the proposed ceasefire could start anytime as a meaningful step toward ending the war.

The Kremlin said the truce was on humanitarian grounds and will run from the start of May 8 and last through the end of May 10 to mark Moscow’s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 — Russia’s biggest secular holiday.

A Russian drone attack overnight on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, wounded 11 people, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said Sunday. Two children were among the wounded.

The attack woke up Valentyna Fesiuk, an 83-year-old resident of Kyiv’s Obolon district.

“I was just sleeping when the house shook,” said Valentyna Fesiuk, an 83-year-old resident of Kyiv’s Obolon district. “It was at 12:30. An apartment on the 12th floor caught fire,” she told The Associated Press.

Another resident, Viacheslav Khotab, saw his car burning. “I was covered with broken glass,” he said. “I couldn’t do anything.”

The 54-year-old was frustrated with stalled peace negotiations: “They can’t agree on anything, and we are the ones who suffer the consequences.”

Daryna Kravchuk, an 18-year-old student in the district, described how “five to six minutes after the air raid was activated, we heard a strong impact, everything started shaking. ... There were three strikes almost in a row after the air raid was activated.”

“It’s very scary to witness, we have been suffering from this for so long. People are just suffering all the time. ... It’s still very hard to see our country constantly being destroyed,” she told the AP.

Two people were killed by Russian guided bombs Sunday, one each in the Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions, local officials said.

Russia fired a total of 165 exploding drones and decoys overnight, Ukraine’s air force said. Of those, 69 were intercepted and a further 80 lost, likely having been electronically jammed. Russia also launched two ballistic missiles.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 13 Ukrainian drones overnight.

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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine