Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use the nuclear weapons to defend his country amid the ongoing war with Ukraine.
Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia’s first mobilization since World War II which ended in 1945.
He has backed a plan to annex swathes of Ukraine with a stern warning to the west that he wasn’t bluffing with the threats.
In the biggest escalation of the ongoing Ukraine war since Moscow’s February 24 invasion, Putin explicitly raised the spectre of a nuclear conflict, approved a plan to annex a chunk of Ukraine the size of Hungary, and called up 300,000 reservists.
“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will, without doubt, use all available means to protect Russia and our people – this is not a bluff,” Putin said in a televised address to Russia.
He added that North Atlantic Treaty Organization, (NATO) was trying to expand and make incursions into Russia’s borders and using nuclear blackmail at the same time.
The Russian president accused the United States, United Kingdom, European Union of encouraging Ukraine to push military operations into Russia.
Putin said, “In its aggressive anti-Russian policy, the West has crossed every line.”
“This isn’t a bluff. And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them,” he added.
The crisis between Ukraine and Russia (former colonies) started on the 24th of February and it has since snowballed into a war between both countries and by extension the western nations.