Prime Minister Narendra Modi's outreach, along with diplomatic initiatives from several nations, played a crucial role in averting a possible nuclear attack by Russia on Ukraine, a CNN report said on Saturday.

As per the report, which cited two senior officials, the United States had been "preparing rigorously" for a potential nuclear strike by Russia on Ukraine when President Vladimir Putin's army was facing 'one setback after another' on the battlefield.

They said the Biden administration was specifically concerned Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon. The fear about Russia's move began after Moscow claimed that Ukraine might use the dirty bomb, a claim that US officials suspected could be used as cover for a Russian nuclear attack.

US officials say that outreach and public statements from Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi helped avert a crisis, CNN reported.

The report revealed that as Ukrainian forces closed in on Kherson, entire Russian units faced the risk of being surrounded.

At the same time, Moscow reportedly claimed that Ukraine could potentially deploy a dirty bomb. Within the US administration, a viewpoint emerged that a significant defeat in Kherson could act as a "potential trigger" for Russia to deploy nuclear weapons, and the assertion of a dirty bomb might be a pretext for such an attack, as per the report.

Amid the fears, the US sought to enlist the help of non-allies including India, to discourage Russia from such an attack. 

"One of the things we did was not only message them directly but strongly urge, press, encourage other countries, to whom they might be more attentive, to do the same thing," ANI quoted a senior administration official as saying in the CNN report.

US officials say that outreach and public statements from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and others helped avert a crisis.

"I think we believe showing the international community the concern about this, particularly the concern from key countries for Russia and the Global South, was also a helpful, persuasive factor and showed them what the cost of all this could be," CNN quoted a senior administration official as saying.

"I think the fact that we know, India weighed in, China weighed in, others weighed in, may have had some effect on their thinking," the senior administration official added. "I can't demonstrate this positively, but I think that's our assessment."

Notably, India has consistently condemned civilian killings and advocated for a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

In September 2022, PM Modi told Putin that "this is not the era of war" during the SCO summit in Uzbekistan, expressing a commitment to exploring paths towards peace.

India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had also cautioned Moscow about the nuclear attack. In a statement on October 26, Rajnath Singh held a telephonic conversation with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu. Shoigu briefed Singh on the situation in Ukraine, including his concerns about "possible provocations through use of "dirty bomb'."

Image source: Reuters