U.S. intel chiefs warn Putin is expanding his nuclear weapons arsenal because the war in Ukraine drags on

WASHINGTON – Russian President Vladimir Putin is more likely to further upgrade the Kremlin’s arsenal of long-range nuclear-capable missiles as a way to deter Kyiv and its powerful Western allies, U.S. officials warned Wednesday.

The warning from the nation’s top spymasters comes as Russia intensifies its now year-long fight in Ukraine and as Putin threatens to withdraw from a key nuclear arms treaty.

“Throughout its invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has continued to point out that it views its nuclear capabilities as essential for maintaining deterrence and achieving its goals in a possible conflict against the U.S. and NATO and it sees its nuclear weapons arsenal as the last word guarantor of the Russian Federation,” the nation’s top intelligence agency wrote in its annual threat report.

The unclassified 35-page intelligence assessment adds that Moscow will develop into more depending on nuclear weapons following significant battlefield losses and punishing rounds of sanctions which have crippled the Kremlin’s ability to finance its war machine.

“Heavy losses to its ground forces and the large-scale expenditures of precision-guided munitions throughout the conflict have degraded Moscow’s ground and air-based conventional capabilities and increased its reliance on nuclear weapons,” the intelligence community wrote.

Putin, whose country boasts the biggest arsenal of nuclear weapons on the earth, has previously rattled the nuclear saber on the heels of Ukrainian advances on the battlefield.

The West, meanwhile, has described Putin’s threats of using nuclear weapons as “irresponsible” and an try and reassert Russia’s dominance within the region.

Last month, Putin upped the ante by announcing he would suspend participation within the Recent START treaty, a vital nuclear arms reduction agreement. The agreement is the only arms control treaty in place between Washington and Moscow following former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces, or INF, treaty.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Putin’s decision “deeply unlucky” and said the Biden administration stays able to negotiate “at any time with Russia, regardless of anything happening on the earth.”

What’s more, Avril Haines, director of national intelligence, told lawmakers on Wednesday that Russia’s military is unlikely to make “major territorial gains” this yr, which could present a chance for added nuclear threats.

“Putin almost certainly calculates that point works in his favor and that prolonging the war including with potential pauses within the fighting, is perhaps his best remaining pathway to eventually securing Russian strategic interests in Ukraine, even when it takes years,” said Haines, who leads America’s 18 intelligence agencies, before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The intelligence chiefs, who had previously warned last yr that Russia would double down in Ukraine amid stalled progress, wrote that Putin’s invasion has not yielded the end result he expected and he “miscalculated the flexibility of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”

The spymasters also said the Russian military will proceed to face personnel shortages, logistical setbacks in addition to morale challenges.

Haines, who spoke alongside CIA Director William Burns, FBI Director Christopher Wray, NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone and DIA Director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, said the intelligence community continues to watch Russia’s nuclear threats.