Military expert shares details of Russia's preparations for nuclear strike on Ukraine in late 2022

He said this on Espreso TV.

When asked whether Russia was really planning a nuclear strike on Ukraine at the end of 2022, Prytula replied: "There was indeed a threat and we all witnessed it, we just did not understand what it was about, I did not speak about it then so as not to cause panic."

The expert recalled how Russia began spreading the fake about a "dirty bomb" that Ukraine allegedly wanted to use at high altitude to disperse radioactive materials over a certain territory.

"What was it? Because there was no point in this nonsense, but if the wind is blowing, you need to understand where it is blowing from and why. What I mean is that a nuclear warhead consists of conventional explosives and radioactive material, which, when combined with explosives, forms a critical mass, followed by an explosive chain reaction. If the components of this warhead fail, for example, nuclear fuses that are the source of neutrons, the composition of conventional explosives has changed, which does not produce the required velocity and density, or the isotopic composition of radioactive material has changed, a nuclear explosion will not occur. In this case, under the influence of conventional explosives, the radioactive substance is dispersed in the air," Prytula explained, adding that it is precisely because of the possibility of unsuccessful use of nuclear weapons that Russia has spread this legend.

Prytula stressed that the information from CNN is true.

"But what went wrong? Most likely, they had no confidence that their nuclear weapons would work, too many years have passed since the last test - it's been more than 30 years. Putin's speech on 21 February 2023 to his assembly, when he instructed the ministries of energy and defence to prepare for nuclear weapons tests, also says the same thing. So far, there have been none," the expert concluded.

• At the end of 2022, the United States began "serious preparations" for the possibility that Russia could launch a nuclear strike on Ukraine, CNN wrote, citing its own sources.