Putin: Russia Will Use All Its Weapons If Ukraine Acquires “Nuclear” Arms

Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on Thursday that Moscow would deploy all available weapons against Ukraine if Kyiv were to acquire nuclear weapons.

Last week, The New York Times reported that some unnamed Western officials hinted that U.S. President Joe Biden might provide Ukraine with nuclear weapons before leaving office.

Speaking at a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan, Putin said:

“If the country we are currently at war with becomes a nuclear power, what should we do? In that case, we will use all—let me emphasize—all means of destruction available to Russia. Everything. We will not allow this. We will monitor all their moves.”

He added, “If someone formally transfers anything, it would mean a violation of all commitments they made not to proliferate nuclear weapons.”

Putin clarified that while Ukraine is practically incapable of producing a nuclear weapon, it might be able to create a type of “dirty bomb” — conventional explosives surrounded by radioactive materials designed to spread nuclear contamination. He warned that Russia would respond appropriately in such a scenario.

He also mentioned that Russia had suffered minimal damage from Ukrainian attacks on its territory using U.S.-made ATACMS long-range missiles.