'PM Modi's outreach helped prevent potential Nuke attack on Ukraine'

As the Russia-Ukraine conflict raged in 2022, the United States started "preparing rigorously" for a potential nuclear strike by Moscow against Kyiv, in what would have been the first nuclear attack since the US dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly eighty years before, CNN reported citing two senior administration officials.

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The report stated that outreach from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other countries also played an important role in averting the crisis.

The Biden administration was specifically concerned Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, the officials said.

Amid the fears, the US sought to enlist the help of non-allies including India, to discourage Russia from such an attack, as reported by CNN.

"One of the things we did was not only message them directly but strongly urge, press, encourage other countries, to whom they might be more attentive, to do the same thing," the senior administration official said.

US officials say that outreach and public statements from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others helped avert a crisis.