Putin Ally Doubles Down on Call to Use Nukes After Strike on Crimean Bridge

Vladimir Solovyov, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and a well-known propagandist, addressed reports that Ukrainian missiles damaged a bridge in Crimea by calling on Russia to "batter" Ukraine with tactical nuclear weapons.

Russia's military seized the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, and strikes on the region has escalated in recent months. On Thursday, Russian officials said Ukraine's forces had blown a hole in the Chonhar bridge, which connects Russian-occupied parts of the Kherson region with Moscow-annexed Crimea.

Ukrainian authorities did not directly claim responsibility for the attack, but Ukrainian military spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk commented on national TV about the goal of disrupting Russia's logistics.

The bridge attack resulted in Solovyov returning to a familiar theme. Throughout the war that Putin began in February 2022, Solovyov has repeatedly called for Russia to use tactical nukes in the war, and on Thursday he said the strike in Crimea is another example of why Russia should use such weapons.

BBC journalist Francis Scarr shared a translated clip of Solovyov's comments about the bridge attack on Twitter.

"We no longer have any [other] option. We must wipe them from the face of the Earth—their decision-making centers. No, not the people of Ukraine," Solovyov said, according to Scarr's translation. "But nobody in their leadership should be allowed to feel comfortable."

He continued, "What's more, pay attention to how much we've been told that it's difficult to hit their bridges. They're hitting our bridges, but we're not hitting theirs."

Solovyov then said he couldn't "find a logical explanation" for why Russian forces shouldn't respond with more powerful weapons.

"I don't understand why we're not using our whole arsenal and everything we've got," he said. "Why do we think up some restrictions for ourselves every time? If our tactical nuclear weapons give us an advantage, maybe it's time? Maybe we simply need to batter them?"

The U.S. State Department has said Solovyov spreads disinformation from the Kremlin and wrote on its website last year in a list identifying well-known figures involved in Russian propaganda that Solovyov "may be the most energetic Kremlin propagandist around today."

In recent months, Solovyov has made such statements as saying Russia should unleash a nuclear attack on any country that would attempt to detain Putin over the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in March for alleged war crimes. He also has advocated multiple times for Moscow to make use of its nuclear capabilities against Western nations that support Ukraine.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs via email for comment.