Johnson plays down fears of Russian nuclear strike on Ukraine

Boris Johnson has dismissed fears President Vladimir Putin could launch a tactical nuclear strike if his forces continue to be bogged down in Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said the overwhelming support in Russia for the invasion meant Mr Putin had the “political margin for manoeuvre” to back down and withdraw his forces if they fail to breakthrough.

Some analysts have warned a frustrated Russian leader could use his arsenal of low-yield, battlefield nuclear weapons if they suffered further reverses at the hands of the Ukrainians.

Earlier, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov warned that the threat of nuclear conflict “should not be under-estimated”.

He accused Nato allies of “pouring oil on the fire” by providing increasingly powerful weaponry to the Ukrainians as he warned against provoking “World War Three”.

However, in an interview with TalkTV, Mr Johnson insisted the situation was not as perilous as had been suggested and that the West did not need to make “concessions” to avoid an escalation of the conflict.

He said: “Given the massive Russian backing for what he is doing, given the apparent obliviousness of the Russian media about what is really happening in Ukraine, the paradox is that Putin has far more political space to back down, to withdraw.

“There will come a point when you (Putin) say to the Russian people ‘The military technical operation we launched in Ukraine has been accomplished, it has been technically a success’.

“I think he has far more political space than people worry about. People say we have to make a concession, we have to worry about what Putin might do because of the risk of his defeat.

“I think he has got a lot of space, he  has got a lot of room for manoeuvre.”