On Thursday, CIA Director William Burns told a stunned audience at Georgia Institute of Technology that “potential desperation” to extract the semblance of a victory in Ukraine could tempt Russian President Vladimir Putin to order the use of a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon.
"Given the potential desperation of President Putin and the Russian leadership, given the setbacks that they've faced so far, militarily, none of us can take lightly the threat posed by a potential resort to tactical nuclear weapons or low-yield nuclear weapons."
The Kremlin said it placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert shortly after it launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, but the U.S. has not seen "a lot of practical evidence" of actual deployments that would cause more worry, Burns added.
"We're obviously very concerned. I know President Biden is deeply concerned about avoiding a third world war, about avoiding a threshold in which, you know, nuclear conflict becomes possible," Burns said.
Russia Warns Finland and Sweden
Also on Thursday, former Russian President and close Putin-ally Dmitry Medvedev warned that Russia is prepared to deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in the Baltics in the event that Finland and Sweden join NATO. While Medvedev did not offer specifics, he was likely referring to deployment of nuclear weapons and other systems to its Baltic enclave, Kaliningrad, located between Poland and Lithuania.
Ukraine Sinks Russian Cruiser
Also on Thursday, the Russian Navy’s Slava-class guided-missile cruiser Moskva, the flag ship of the Black Sea Fleet, was struck by at least one Ukrainian-manufactured Neptune anti-ship missile. The ship later sunk in the Black Sea south of Odessa as it was being towed to Crimea for repairs
Russian officials claimed that the ammunition exploded due to a fire on board and said the crew had been evacuated.
The Moskva made headlines in February after a recording of an apparent radio exchange between the ship and Ukrainian border guards on Snake Island went viral. In the recording, when the Russian ship told those on the island to surrender, the Ukrainian guards could be heard saying: "Go f*ck yourselves."
U.S. Warns of Drifting Mines
On Friday, AlertsUSA subscribers were informed of a new security alert issued by the U.S. Embassy in Turkey warning of drifting mines in the Black Sea. According to the alert, there are confirmed reports of an undetermined number of drifting mines in the western Black Sea, at least four of which Turkish and Romanian authorities have intercepted. The alert urges caution for U.S. citizens traveling by sea throughout the region.
Invasion Progress
Below is a conflict map as of April 8 based on open source reporting. Compare this map with that of last week.
AlertsUSA cautions readers that the conflict in Eastern Europe has potential to get much worse, and spillover into neighboring NATO nations is a possibility. Caution is urged if traveling to Europe in the coming months.
AlertsUSA continues to monitor the domestic and international threat environment around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers, via SMS messages to their mobile devices, of new alerts, warnings and advisories or any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant. |
