US scrambled to urge Putin not to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, Woodward book says

WASHINGTON (AP) — Months into Russia’s war in Ukraine, the United States had intelligence pointing to “highly sensitive, credible conversations inside the Kremlin” that Russian President Vladimir Putin was seriously considering using nuclear weapons to avoid major battlefield losses. That’s according to reporting by famed journalist Bob Woodward in his new book, “War.” The book says U.S. intelligence pointed to a 50% chance that Putin would use tactical nukes if Ukrainian forces surrounded 30,000 Russian troops in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. According to Woodward’s account, President Joe Biden told his national security adviser to “get on the line with the Russians. Tell them what we will do in response.”