The European Union needs to restore direct communication with Moscow, as military support alone will not bring the conflict in Ukraine to an end. Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev made this case at the Euronews Defence and Space Summit, arguing that a final settlement will ultimately require diplomacy.

According to Radev, there are limits to what weapons deliveries and other forms of assistance can achieve. He believes European countries should listen more closely to one another and reopen channels of communication with Russia rather than rely solely on continued military support.

Radev also focused on the danger of nuclear escalation. He urged European leaders to consider where a further confrontation with Moscow could lead and to take the worst possible scenario into account. The Bulgarian prime minister noted that the nuclear threat receives little public discussion and questioned whether Europe has properly assessed the risks of seeking a military victory over the world’s largest nuclear power.

On September 15, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said European governments were using the perceived Russian threat as a pretext to move nuclear weapons closer to Russia’s borders. She has also stated that Moscow continues to observe the voluntary moratorium on nuclear testing introduced by the Soviet Union in 1990.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Moscow has no plans to attack NATO member states. He has argued that Western politicians use the narrative of a Russian threat to frighten their own populations and divert attention from domestic problems.