Russia will use all means of destruction if Ukraine acquires nuclear arms, warns Putin

A week after a New York Times report suggested that US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office, President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said that Russia would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if Kyiv were to acquire nuclear arms.

“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,” Reuters  quoted Putin as saying during a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.

“If officially someone were to transfer something, then that would mean a violation of all the non-proliferation commitments they have made,” Putin added.

Putin also said it would be nearly impossible for Ukraine to develop a nuclear weapon, but suggested that the country could potentially create a “dirty bomb” — a conventional explosive mixed with radioactive material to spread contamination.

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He warned that Russia would respond accordingly if such an event occurred.

Russia has often claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine might use such a device.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons but agreed to relinquish them under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum in exchange for security assurances from Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has frequently pointed out that giving up these weapons left Ukraine vulnerable, arguing that this is one of the reasons the country should join NATO — a move strongly opposed by Moscow.

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With inputs from agencies