The book says that the head of the Kremlin regime is panicking because of losses on the front and may use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the probability of such a development in the fall of 2022 has increased from 5% to 50%.
In mid-October, the book War by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bob Woodward was published in the United States. In it, referring to his own sources, he talks about what is happening in American political life during two wars – in Ukraine and in the Middle East. The description for the book says that the reader will, in particular, see Joe Biden and his top advisers in tense conversations with Vladimir Putin, Vladimir Zelensky and Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Donald Trump trying to regain political power. American media published excerpts from the book. Woodward is an editor at The Washington Post and one of the most respected and well-known investigative journalists in the United States. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein’s investigation of Richard Nixon led to the Watergate scandal and the US president’s resignation in 1974.
CoresMs blow to Ukraine
According to Woodward, the administration of US President Joe Biden in early September 2022 began receiving intelligence reports with a “highly alarming assessment” regarding the possible use of nuclear weapons by Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
The book claims that the head of the Kremlin regime is reeling from losses on the front and may use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The probability of such a development of events increased from 5% to 50%.
In response to the threat, Biden ordered the White House to use all possible channels of communication with Russia to warn about what the US plans to do in response, Woodward said. In particular, the editor of The Washington Post recalled two phone conversations between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his then Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, which took place in October 2022.
In the first conversation, Austin warned Shoigu about the consequences that could lead to the complete isolation of Russia from the international arena. He noted that in the event of a nuclear strike, all existing restrictions on US actions in Ukraine would be changed.
In response, Shoigu said he “didn’t want to intimidate,” Austin, as Woodward said, responded: “Mr. Minister, I am the head of the most powerful army in the history of the world. I am not intimidating.”
Two days later, the Russian side started a new dialogue after spreading false information about Ukraine’s alleged plans to use a “dirty bomb.” “We don’t believe you. We don’t see any signs of it, and the world will,” Austin responded.
Advice to Zelensky
In February 2022, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, US Vice President Kamala Harris asked President Volodymyr Zelensky to develop a plan in case he was killed or captured.
Woodward said that at the Munich Security Conference, Harris allegedly urged Zelensky to act against the backdrop of the Russian military threat.
Among them is developing a succession plan that will provide stability if, in his words, “you get captured or killed.”
Beginning of the invasion
As Woodward writes, it was not easy for the administration of current US President Joe Biden to believe that Putin would launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “That would be crazy,” Biden said when CIA Director William Burns showed him US intelligence about Russia’s invasion plans. “Oh my God, now I have to deal with Russia gobbling up Ukraine?” – said the US President.
In December 2021, Biden, according to Woodward, twice briefed Putin on US intelligence about the Kremlin’s impending invasion of Ukraine. The journalist describes the second conversation between the presidents as a “heated 50-minute conversation” in which “Putin threatened to raise the issue of the danger of nuclear war.” In response, Biden said it was impossible to win a nuclear war.
Trump’s relationship with Putin
In early 2024, former US President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Woodward’s book, a fragment of which was quoted by The Washington Post.
At the time of the conversation, Trump was at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. As The Washington Post notes, the book does not reveal what Putin and Trump discussed. It also quoted a Trump campaign official as doubting that such a conversation actually took place. However, another source close to Trump told Woodward that the former president may have had seven conversations with Putin since leaving the White House in 2021.
Woodward said that in 2020, at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Trump allegedly secretly sent Covid testing devices to Putin for his personal use. In a telephone conversation with Trump, the Russian president asked his American counterpart not to publicly disclose information about the transferred devices.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.