The next step cornered and ‘dangerous’ Putin is likely to take

An international affairs expert says Vladimir Putin is being backed into a corner, and the chance of a nuclear attack is growing, but that’s unlikely to be the next step for the Russian president.

Former intelligence analyst Dr David Wright-Neville says the Ukraine invasion is not going well and Putin is “lashing out”.

Russian forces have suffered heavy losses in Ukraine, with an estimated 7000 to 14,000 dead, and another 30,000 to 40,000 injured or captured.

“We’re getting to the point where it’s roughly about nine to 10 per cent,” Dr Wright-Neville told Neil Mitchell.

“That’s that tipping point at which they can no longer really do the functions that they’re set up to do, so he’s resorting to missiles. He’s shot about 1200 missiles over the last 28 days.

“Well you can shoot them faster than you can build them. At some point he’s going to run out and he’s going to lash out.”

Dr Wright-Neville is becoming “more and more worried” about the possibility of Putin launching a nuclear attack.

“There’s some suggestion emerging that there are Russian military documents from the 2010s that suggest a limited one-off nuclear strike to convey the message that Russia is not afraid of escalation would be one way of proceeding,” he said.

Analysis from Princeton University suggests that if Putin launched a nuclear strike the West would retaliate, and the conflict would quickly escalate to the use of intercontinental nuclear missiles.

“They’re actually predicting that within three hours Europe is looking at 34 million dead,” Dr Wright-Neville said.

“I’m not saying that would happen, but that’s the thinking.”

The foreign affairs expert says there are likely to be other steps taken by Putin before he resorts to nuclear attack.

“I suspect that there’s intelligence that the Americans have and the Europeans have that points to the possibility that he’s going to use chemical weapons before he pulls the nuclear trigger,” he said.

“I think that would probably be the next step.”

Press PLAY below to hear Dr Wright-Neville’s take on what Putin is likely to do next

Image: Getty