Преузмите цео чланак у ПДФ формату
The subject of the paper is an analysis of the possibilities of using nuclear weapons in the context of the war in Ukraine and the factors – “turning points” – that facilitate and raise such a possibility. The author claims that the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons is growing taking into account several key turning points that mark the weakening of the nuclear order established after the Cold War, those being: the disintegration of the regime to control nuclear weapons due to the disturbed balance of power and NATO’s expansion towards Russian borders, intensive modernization of nuclear forces of all nuclear-armed states and changes in their nuclear doctrines to strengthen deterrence, the involvement of nuclear-armed third actors in the conflict that may also be inclined to consider the nuclear option, the increasingly probable renewal of nuclear testing and nuclear threat, and the augmentation of nuclear sharing. Through content analysis and the use of comparative method, the author analysis processes of the modernisation of strategic forces in the USA and Russia, as well as the doctrines for the use of these forces, only to finally examine the controversies and possibilities of the use of nuclear weapons in the context of the war in Ukraine. The conclusion of the paper indicates a well-founded fear of possible use of nuclear weapons given the existential importance of the outcome of this conflict for the entire international order and the very actors involved in the conflict.