Kyiv: In extremely rare public remarks, Ukraine's military chief warned that Russia could use nuclear weapons there, raising the possibility of a "limited" nuclear conflict with other powers.

General Valery Zaluzny predicted that the conflict in Ukraine, which erupted with Russia's invasion on February 24, would likely continue the following year in an article co-written with lawmaker Mykhailo Zbrodsky and published on Wednesday by state news agency Ukrainform.

The article provided the Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine with the most in-depth analysis of the conflict to date and conveyed messages that were fundamentally with senior Ukrainian officials.

According to Zaluzhnyi, the use of tactical nuclear weapons by the Russian armed forces is directly threatened in certain situations.

The article noted that it was impossible to completely rule out the possibility of the world's most powerful nations directly involved in a "limited" nuclear conflict, in which the prospect of World War III was already clearly evident.

Moscow has previously denied rumors of possible nuclear or chemical weapons use.

According to Zaluzhnyi and Zabrodskyi, in order to change the course of the war, Ukraine would have to match the strike range of Moscow's arsenal.

"The only path to a major change in the strategic situation is indisputably a series of several successive, or ideally simultaneous, counterstrikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the campaign of 2023," he claimed.

According to US officials, the advanced long-range weapons have been given to the Kyiv government under the condition that Ukraine will not use them to strike targets inside Russia.

According to the authors, Ukraine's first acknowledgment in the article was that it was behind rocket attacks on Russian airfields in Crimea, including the damage to the Saki military base last month.

According to a senior official who spoke on the record under condition of anonymity, Ukraine has so far refrained from publicly acknowledging its involvement out of concern for Russian retaliation.

"We are talking about a series of successful rocket attacks against enemy Crimean airfields, first and foremost, the Saki airfield," the article said, without specifying whether it was directed or unguided. Was referring to rockets or missiles.

According to the article, on 9 August, the Saki strike "put out of action" 10 Russian warplanes.

Saki, which is at least 200 kilometers from the front line, is not known to have been affected by any of the weapons systems used by Ukraine.
The tone of the article differed from the often encouraging statements made by senior Ukrainian officials.

The war has already lasted months, according to the statement, and there is every reason to think that it will continue until 2022.

According to Zaluzhnyi and Zabrodskyi, Ukraine was placed in an "extremely unfavorable" position on two fronts in the east, near the cities of Bakhmut and Izium.

Next year, he claimed, foreign-made weapons would be a mainstay of Ukraine's defense.

The article states that significant amounts of military aid from our coalition partners should remain the physical foundation of Ukraine's resistance in 2023.

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