PM Modi's appeal to Putin helped avert 'potential nuclear attack' on Ukraine: Report

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

Had it not been for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention, Russia might have launched a nuclear attack on Ukraine, CNN has reported citing senior government officials. Russia had reportedly begun "preparing rigorously" for a possible nuclear strike against Kyiv in 2022.

It would have been the first nuclear attack since the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki nearly eighty years earlier.  However, earnest efforts by PM Modi and other nations were crucial in preventing the disaster.

According to officials cited in the report, the Biden administration was particularly worried that Russia may employ a nuclear bomb for military purposes.

"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 official said.

In light of these concerns, the US had attempted to persuade non-allies such as India to assist in discouraging Russia from launching such an attack. US officials said that the outreach and public statements from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others helped avert the crisis.

India has consistently demanded a peaceful settlement to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and denounced the death of civilians.

During the SCO meeting in Uzbekistan last year, Prime Minister Modi made a significant declaration to President Putin, telling him that "this is not the era of war". Even the G20 communiqué, which India was hosting, carried the statement.

The late summer of 2022 was proving to be a particularly difficult time for Russian soldiers occupying Ukraine. The southern city of Kherson, which Russia had claimed as its greatest win since the invasion, was being overrun by Ukrainian forces.