MOSCOW (Reuters/AFP) – 
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in comments broadcast on Sunday said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen, and that he hoped it would not arise.
In a fragment of an upcoming interview with Russian state television published on Telegram, Putin said that Russia has the strength and the means to bring the conflict in Ukraine to a “logical conclusion.”
Responding to a question about Ukrainian strikes on Russia from a state television reporter, Putin said: “There has been no need to use those (nuclear) weapons ... and I hope they will not be required.”
He said: “We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires.”
Putin in February 2022 ordered tens of thousands of Russian troops into Ukraine, in what the Kremlin calls a “special military operation” against its neighbor.
Though Russian troops were repelled from Kyiv, Moscow’s forces currently control around 20 percent of Ukraine, including much of the south and east.
Putin has in recent weeks expressed willingness to negotiate a peace settlement, as U.S. President Donald Trump has said he wants to end the conflict via diplomatic means.
Fear of nuclear escalation has been a factor in U.S. officials’ thinking since Russia’s war Ukraine in early 2022. Former CIA Director William Burns has said there was a real risk in late 2022 that Russia could use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
In another development, a Russian overnight drone attack on Ukraine’s capital injured at least 11 people, including two children, and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on Sunday for a real ceasefire lasting at least a month in the more than three-year-old war.
Putin last week declared a three-day ceasefire for May 8-10 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union and its allies in World War Two, a move appeared aimed at signaling that Russia is still interested in peace.
Zelenskiy reiterated his calls for a longer halt in the fighting.
“The Russians are calling for a ceasefire ... while striking Ukraine every single day. This is top-level cynicism: just this week alone, Russia has used over 1,180 attack drones, 1,360 guided aerial bombs, and 10 missiles of various types against Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said on the X social media platform.
“If there’s a ceasefire - then not for their holidays, but for every day,” he added.
Falling debris from destroyed drones started fires at residential buildings in Kyiv’s Obolonskyi and Sviatoshynskyi districts, Timur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on social media.
Ukraine’s emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app that 76 firefighters were involved in putting out the overnight fires in the city, which also included a small blaze in the central Shevchenkivskyi district.
It posted photos of firefighters battling large blazes at night at what appeared to be a residential building.