Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that if the West transfers nuclear weapons to Ukraine, Russia will respond with all available weapons.
Speaking at a news conference in Kazakhstan‘s capital of Astana, Putin vowed to prevent the “appearance” of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
“In this case, (Ukraine gets nuclear arms from the West), we will use everything, I want to emphasize this, all means of destruction at Russia’s disposal. That’s it… we will not allow this,” Putin told reporters, commenting on possible future actions by Russia if Kyiv receives nuclear weapons.
“We do not rule out the use of Oreshnik against the military, military-industrial facilities or decision-making centres, including in Kyiv,” Putin said at a press conference in the Kazakh capital Astana.
“Authorities in Kyiv today continue their attempts to strike at our vital facilities, including in Saint Petersburg and Moscow,” Putin added.
The intermediate-range ballistic missile can travel at a speed of Mach 10, or up to three kilometres (1.8 miles) per second, according to Moscow.
In the press conference on Thursday, Putin said the weapon had the destructive power of a meteorite.
“The kinetic impact is powerful, like a meteorite falling. We know in history what meteorites have fallen where, and what the consequences were. Sometimes it was enough for whole lakes to form,” Putin said.
The weapon is “comparable in strength to a nuclear strike” when used several times at once, the Kremlin chief added, though he said it was not currently equipped with a nuclear device.