VLADIMIR Putin was so close to letting off a nuke in October 2022 that crisis meetings were held over the fallout hitting Britain.
Ex-PM Liz Truss spent her final days in office studying weather maps and preparing for UK radiation cases after American spies feared the Kremlin tyrant was hours from pressing the button.
Whitehall disaster planners feared radioactive material hurled into the atmosphere could have travelled the 1,700 miles across Europe from any blast zone.
Based on “exquisite” intelligence, the US concluded there was a 50 per cent chance Russia could deploy a tactical nuke on the Ukrainian battlefields or test a larger bomb over the Black Sea.
The horrifying details of how close the war came to a massive escalation are revealed in Out of the Blue, an updated biography of the short-lived PM.
It reports Ms Truss spent “numerous hours studying satellite weather data and wind directions” over fears the “wrong weather patterns” could have a “direct fall-out effect on Britain”.
Separately, a new book, War, by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward also reports the White House believed there was a 50 per cent chance Russia would use a battlefield weapon based on “exquisite” human intelligence received in autumn 2022.
Then UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace dashed to Washington on October 18 that year to discuss the crisis.
Security sources told The Sun at the time that the threat had dramatically increased.
That month, President Joe Biden said for first time since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, there was a “direct threat” of nuclear weapons being deployed by Russia “if, in fact, things continue down the path they are going”.
The revelation comes as ministers scramble to play down fears Donald Trump would abandon Ukraine when he returns to the White House in January.
Defence Secretary John Healey said he expected the President- elect to support Ukraine for “as long as it takes to prevail”.
And speaking in Paris yesterday, PM Sir Keir Starmer said Britain would “support President Zelensky for as long as it takes”.
But Mr Trump’s son Don Jnr stoked fears for Ukraine by sharing a video mocking President Zelensky. He sneered Zelensky’s “allowance” was about to run out.
Trump Snr was reported to have spoken to Putin the following day, warning him not to escalate the 32-month conflict.
But a Kremlin spokesman branded the reports “pure fiction”.
By Noa Hoffman
SIR Keir Starmer opened the door to breaking his manifesto promise on defence spending.
The PM risked fury across the Commons as refused to commit to spending 2.5 per cent of GDP on the military by the next election.
Sir Keir also batted off growing calls to set out a timeline for achieving his key election pledge.
Asked whether the money will be ready in the next five years, Sir Keir responded: “We’ll set out a path to 2.5 per cent.
“We’ve got a strategic defence review going on at the moment, which reports in the early part of next year and we will set out a path to 2.5 per cent.
“You’ll see it when we set it out.” Pressure is mounting on the PM to outline the timescale, with Donald Trump threatening to let Russia do “whatever the hell it wants” with European states that don’t bump up payments.
Amid uncertainty over how much longer the US will help fund Kyiv’s war effort, military chiefs have also implored the PM to get moving on his manifesto funding pledge.
