Russian will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine – foreign ministry

(Reuters) – Russia will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, foreign ministry spokesman Alexei Zaitsev said on Friday.

Zaitsev told reporters the use of nuclear weapons by Russia – a risk that Western officials have publicly discussed – was not applicable to what Moscow calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

CIA director William Burns said on April 14 that given the setbacks Russia had suffered in Ukraine, “none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons.”

(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)