Prime Minister Modi's Outreach Helped Avert A 'Nuclear' Crisis In Ukraine: Report

Amid the raging Russia-Ukraine conflict in 2022, the United States began"preparing rigorously" for a potential nuclear strike by Moscow against Kyiv.

However, the outreach from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other countries helped avert the 'nuclear' crisis, CNN reported.

The Biden administration was specifically concerned Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon.

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Amid the fears of a Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine,  the US sought to enlist the help of non-allies, in particular India and China, to discourage Russia from such an attack.

“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 Biden administration official was quoted in the CNN report.

US officials said that outreach and public statements from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others helped avert a crisis.

“I think we believe showing the international community the concern about this, particularly the concern from key countries for Russia and the Global South, was also a helpful, persuasive factor and showed them what the cost of all this could be,” another senior administration official said.

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

“I can’t demonstrate this positively, but I think that’s our assessment," the official added.

Late summer 2022 was proving a 'devastating period' for Russian forces in Ukraine.

Ukrainian forces were advancing on Russian-occupied Kherson in the south, the city which had been Russia's biggest prize since the conflict began.

As these Ukrainian forces advanced, entire Russian units were in danger of being surrounded.

The view inside the administration was that such a catastrophic loss could be a "potential trigger" for the use of nuclear weapons, according to CNN.

Regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, India has always condemned civilian killings and called for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

In a major statement, PM Modi told President Putin that "this is not the era of war" on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Uzbekistan last year.

The statement even made to the G20 communique under the presidency of India.

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