Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine had not arisen and that he hopes it will not.

In a preview of an upcoming interview with Russian state television, published on Telegram on Sunday, Putin said 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 Russian territory, Putin said: �There has been no need to use those (nuclear) weapons … and I hope they will not be required.�

�We have enough strength and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the outcome Russia requires,� he said.

Putin signed a revamped version of Russia�s nuclear doctrine in November 2024, spelling out the circumstances that allow him to use Moscow�s atomic arsenal, the world�s largest.

That version lowered the bar, giving him that option in response to even a conventional attack backed by a nuclear power.

Russia and Ukraine are at odds over competing ceasefire proposals.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday, in comments made public Saturday, that Moscow�s announcement of a 72-hour ceasefire next week in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II is merely an attempt to create a �soft atmosphere� ahead of Russia�s annual celebrations.

Zelenskyy instead renewed calls for a more substantial 30-day pause in hostilities, as the U.S. had initially proposed. He said the proposed ceasefire could start anytime as a meaningful step toward ending the war.

Putin on Monday declared a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire in Ukraine to mark Victory Day in World War II, as the U.S. presses for a deal to end the 3-year-old war. The Kremlin said the truce, ordered on �humanitarian grounds,� will run from the start of May 8 and last through the end of May 10 to mark Moscow�s defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 � Russia�s biggest secular holiday.

A Russian drone attack overnight on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, wounded 11 people, Ukraine�s State Emergency Service said Sunday. Two children were among the wounded.

The attack woke up Valentyna Fesiuk, an 83-year-old resident of Kyiv’s Obolon district.

�I was just sleeping when the house shook. It was at 12:30. An apartment on the 12th floor caught fire,” she told The Associated Press.

The car of another resident, Viacheslav Khotab, caught fire.

�I saw my car burning. I was covered with broken glass,� he said. �I couldn�t do anything.�

The 54-year-old was frustrated with stalled peace negotiations: “They can�t agree on anything, and we are the ones who suffer the consequences.�

Daryna Kravchuk, an 18-year-old student in the district, described how �five to six minutes after the air raid was activated, we heard a strong impact, everything started shaking. … There were three strikes almost in a row after the air raid was activated.”

�It�s very scary to witness, we have been suffering from this for so long. People are just suffering all the time. … It�s still very hard to see our country constantly being destroyed,� she told the AP.

One person was killed Sunday when a Russian guided bomb hit a village close to the border in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region, regional Gov. Oleh Hryhorov said.

Russia fired a total of 165 exploding drones and decoys overnight, Ukraine�s air force said. Of those, 69 were intercepted and a further 80 lost, likely having been electronically jammed. Russia also launched two ballistic missiles.

Russia�s Defense Ministry said its air defenses shot down 13 Ukrainian drones overnight.

(AP)