ASTANA, Kazakhstan: Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that Moscow would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if the West provided nuclear weapons to Kyiv.
The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.
“If the country which we are essentially at war with now becomes a nuclear power, what do we do? In this case, we will use all, I want to emphasise this, precisely all means of destruction available to Russia. Everything: we will not allow it. We’ll be watching their every move”, Putin said, as quoted by Reuters news agency, during a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Putin vowed to prevent the “appearance” of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. “If officially someone were to transfer something, then that would mean a violation of all the non-proliferation commitments they have made,” Putin said.
The Russian leader also said it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce a nuclear weapon, but that it might be able to make some kind of “dirty bomb”. In that case, Russia would respond appropriately, Putin said.
Russia has repeatedly said, without providing evidence, that Ukraine might use such a device.
Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly complained that the move left his country without security, citing this as a reason it should be admitted to NATO.
Earlier on Thursday, while speaking at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Summit in Astana, Putin said decision-making centres in Ukraine could be targeted in strikes with Russia’s newest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile system, TASS news agency reported.
“The Defense Ministry and the General Staff of the Russian Army are currently selecting targets to strike on the territory of Ukraine,” Putin said.
“These targets may include military facilities, defence industry enterprises or decision-making centres in Kyiv,” the Russian president stated.
He also said that serial production of the Oreshnik missile system has already been launched.
“But at the end of the day, it will be up to us to choose the means of destruction considering the nature of the targets that were selected to be wiped out and the threats posed to the Russian Federation,” Putin noted.
The Russian president stressed that Moscow would respond to any and all strikes on Russian soil with the use of Western-made long-range missiles, up to and including “the possible continuation of Oreshnik tests in combat conditions, as was done on November 21.”
Putin said on November 21 that the United States and its NATO allies had announced their decision to grant Kyiv permission to use long-range high-precision weapons, following which US-and UK-made missiles attacked Russian military sites in the Kursk and Bryansk regions.
In response to these attacks, Russia test-launched the latest Oreshnik hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missiles with conventional warheads against Ukraine’s major Yuzhmash defence enterprise in Dnepr (formerly Dnepropetrovsk), Putin said.
The Russian leader stressed that the West’s inflammatory actions could trigger serious consequences if the Ukraine conflict escalates further.
Meanwhile, Zelensky said that Russia fired cluster munitions at Ukrainian energy facilities in its massive attack Thursday which Putin said was Moscow’s response to Ukraine’s attacks with UK and US-supplied weapons last week.
“In several regions, strikes with cluster munitions were recorded, and they targeted civilian infrastructure,” Zelensky said on social media.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the air attack against Ukraine was Moscow’s “response” to Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory with Western missiles.
Putin has previously railed at Ukraine’s allies granting permission for Kyiv to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets on Russian territory, warning of retaliation.
“We carried out a comprehensive strike,” Putin said during a Kazakhstan visit several hours after the attack.
“It was a response to continued attacks on our territory by (US) ATACMS missiles,” he said in the televised remarks as reported by AFP.
Last week, Ukraine used UK and US weapons to strike Russian territory for the first time since the war started in February 2022. In recent days it has prompted retaliatory strikes from Russia.
