As the Russia-Ukraine war, which broke out in 2022, intensified, the report said, citing two senior officials, that the US started "preparing rigorously" for a potential nuclear strike by Moscow against Kiev.

The Joe Biden administration was "specifically concerned" that Russia might use a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, leading to the first nuclear attack since the US dropped bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, officials said.

It was then that the US sought to enlist the help of India and China to discourage Russia from such an attack.

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

"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," a senior administration official said.

"I think we believe showing the international community 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," the report said, quoting the official.

Meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Uzbekistan in 2022, PM Modi called for a peaceful solution to the conflict and told the Russian leader that "this is not an era of war".

PM Modi had told President Putin that democracy, diplomacy, and dialogue have kept the world together.

In response, the Russian leader said that he understands India's "concerns" and promised PM Modi that he would try and end the conflict even as he blamed Ukraine for prolonging it.