Fears grow that Putin is ‘crazy enough’ to use nukes and could ‘destroy world’

Vladimir Putin will ‘destroy the world’ if he is left unchecked and is ‘crazy enough’ to use nukes, a Russian opposition politician has warned.

Leonid Volkov, the former chief of staff for Alexei Navalny’s 2018 presidential bid, said ‘We can expect unfortunately everything’ from the Russian President.

And his fears have been echoed by Poland’s premier, Andrzej Duda, who believes Putin could use ‘anything’ right now.

Mr Volkov told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme an ‘enormous cost’ must be paid to stop the war.

‘There are all the sanctions, of course, they also create a burden on the European economy that is quite clear.

‘But this cost has to be paid because otherwise Putin will just destroy the world.

‘He is clearly not winning the war against Ukraine and he might think about other solutions, more powerful weapons, more powerful solutions to change the course of this war which is now not so successful for him.’

And he described the war as ‘enormously painful’, adding: ‘This is Putin’s war, not my war. This is not our war, not in our name. He is doing it. Not in our name.’

Meanwhile President Duda told the BBC’s Sunday Morning show Putin has lost the war ‘politically’ and is not winning ‘militarily’.

‘If you’re asking can Putin use chemical weapons, I think that Putin can use anything right now, especially because he’s in a very difficult situation.’

The Polish leader conceded the Russian army has a ‘crushing, overwhelming majority’ over Ukraine – but insisted ‘they are not able to win the war’ – as President Voldymyr Zelensky vowed to never give up the fight.

Ukraine capital Kyiv is bracing itself for a long-feared all-out attack from Putin’s forces – as at least 35 perished in a bombardment close to the Polish border.

Moscow is doubling down on its invasion as the Kremlin enlisted up 16,000 volunteer fighters from the Middle East, including Syria, to aid his attack.

Putin’s troops are said to be suffering from low morale with many running low on food and fuel supplies – as Mr Zelensky said up to 600 Russian soldiers surrendered on Friday.

Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove said Putin was operating according to a ‘set of criteria totally detached from those which you or I would consider to be reasonable or rational’.

He is ‘pursuing a conflict which he believes he has to win,’ Mr Gove told Sophy Ridge on Sunday, adding: ‘We have to make sure that he loses.’

When quizzed over whether the UK Government is concerned he could use nuclear weapons, he said: ‘There are people who are even now calibrating what our response should be to that – the defence, security and intelligence experts in our own country and elsewhere.’

Mr Gove suggested it was not helpful to think of Putin as ‘mad’, but conceded he is someone whose ‘ruthlessness takes them into a moral sphere that the rest of us would find almost impossible to conceive of.’

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