Putin has gone ‘into hiding’ since the attack (Picture: Reuters / East2west)

Putin could use ‘game-changing’ nuclear weapons in a show of strength hours after Ukraine’s drone strikes,an expert has warned.

The Russian leader could use the destruction of his nuclear-capable war planes in the surprise drone attack to justify use of nuclear weapons,Professor Stephen Hall told Metro.

Ukraine blew up scores of Russian nuclear bombers in a mass drone attack on Sunday.

Codenamed ‘Operation Spiderweb’,at least 40 war planes were hit by drones which were smuggled into Russia and then launched remotely off the back of trucks.

Where the airfields Operation Spiderweb struck on Sunday

It represented a huge security failure for the Kremlin,after it emerged the operations ‘office’ was right next to a branch of Russia’s secret service.

The Bath University lecturer told Metro: ‘The response will be a large attack. Putin cannot be seen to look weak.

‘They will target whatever they can and claim they are military targets. We can expect to see missiles and drones.’

However,the Russian leader is currently ‘in hiding’ and many vocal members of the Kremlin are silent as Russia weighs up its full response to the crisis.

One thing they will be considering is how to respond to the attacks on their nuclear bombers.

According to Russia’s new nuclear doctrine,published in 2024,any attacks on military infrastructure which ‘disrupt response actions by nuclear forces’ could lead to nuke strikes in return.

Dr Hall added: ‘Technically,this fits inside what could lead Russia to engage in nuclear war.

‘The nuclear doctrine is incredibly vague,and I suspect that is not a path the Kremlin will go down. Primarily because that will be significant overkill.

‘If they did use nuclear weapons,that would be game-changing.’

Prof. Hall also argued that any use of nuclear weapons would damage Russia’s relationship with China,India and President Trump in the US.

Russia has already begun its retaliation,launching more strikes on Ukraine overnight.

Russian Belaya Air Base in Irkutsk region,Siberia,was ablaze today after a suspected drone strike linked to Ukraine (Picture: Svodka38/e2w)

Sunday also saw Russia hit its adversary with the largest drone attack since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Another possible Russian Response could be deploying depleted uranium,a toxic chemical and radiation health hazard when inside the body.

The metal is put on the tips of shells and can better penetrate targets and was previously used in conflicts in Kosovo and the Iraq War.

What is Russia's nuclear doctrine?

Russia’s nuclear doctrine sets out under what condition the Kremlin would launch nuclear strikes on its enemies.In November 2024,Russia adopted new red lines for when they would press the big red button.The new policy states that Russia could launch nuclear weapons in response to an attack on its territory by a non-nuclear-armed state backed by a nuclear-armed one.Under the vaguely worded guidelines,a large attack on Russia with conventional missiles,drones or aircraft could trigger  nuclear response.Assaults on Belarus or any critical threat to Russia’s sovereignty could also meet the threshold.Dr Hall doubts the Kremlin would choose to turn to this right now.He explained: ‘It would lead to a significant escalation of the war and would finally push a lot of European countries to go all in,in support of Ukraine.Germany’s defence chief said Russia is rapidly building up its reserve of battle tanks,to as many as 1,500 each year.Russia launched the largest drone attack on Ukraine since the beginning of the full scale invasion (Picture: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images)General Carsten Breuer told the BBC these could be used against NATO members.But Dr Hall said at the moment,the Russian army does not have the capacity to fight two wars at once.He told Metro: ‘Putin believes he is winning,whether he has the right information is another matter.’Ukraine’s strikes on Russian airfields came a day before Russia and Ukraine were due to sit down for more peace talks.Dr Hall believes Ukraine’s attack on Russia won’t change the future of the negotiations because Putin wants the war to continue regardless.Explosions saw two bridges collapse in Russia overnight (Picture: REUTERS)The Russia expert said: ‘The President doesn’t want peace. That’s quite clear.‘Both sides have very different opinions about what they want to achieve in terms of peace. I suspect we are not going to see peace any time soon.’