Ukraine’s strike unlikely to trigger Russian nuclear response — political scientist

Volodymyr Fesenko, political scientist and head of the board of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies, said this on Espreso TV.

"The West is more afraid of the Russians than we are. Ukraine has been at war with Russia for more than three years, and we have seen a lot. We understand the Russians better than Americans do. They have fears of World War III. They don't understand the difference: what is written in the Russian nuclear doctrine is that a response to a strike on their nuclear triad concerns exclusively nuclear powers in the context of a nuclear conflict.

Now Russia is at war with a non-nuclear state. Therefore, I think that the probability of using nuclear weapons, theoretically, always exists. Unfortunately, this risk exists for everyone, but we see that Russia is acting quite restrained," Fesenko explained.

According to the chairman of the board of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies, Putin wants to negotiate with Trump.

"Pay attention to how the Russians reacted immediately after Operation Web. There were calls for an immediate strike on Ukraine and not to go to the talks in Istanbul. But we went anyway – not to negotiate, but rather to demonstrate to Trump that Putin wants peace and Russia is ready to continue negotiations.

They need to fulfill this 'mandatory program.' But this shows that Russia is not ready to escalate and break off relations in the negotiations, as this could harm communication between Putin and Trump," Fesenko said.

The political analyst also recalled that in the fall of 2022, the Russians responded to the attack on the Kerch Bridge with massive missile strikes.

"There may be something similar now, but we have massive air strikes almost every night, and we are used to it. If there are fears in the West about the escalation of the war, this escalation has already begun on the part of Russia," Fesenko emphasized.

• Andrii Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, stated that media talks about a nuclear threat in the West benefit only Russia.
• On June 1, 2025, the Security Service of Ukraine conducted a major Spider’s Web operation to destroy Russian bombers.
• The head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Vasyl Maliuk, disclosed the details of the historic special Spider’s Web operation, which resulted in the downing of more than 40 Russian military aircraft.
• Ukraine is achieving remarkable success and demonstrating a groundbreaking level of warfare. Spider's Web operation is having a geopolitical impact.
• Operation Spider's Web was one of the most secretive missions carried out by Ukraine's Security Service — with only a handful of people inside the agency aware of its details.
• Before the launch of Operation Spider’s Web, the Russian Air Force possessed approximately 130 strategic bombers.