Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia will use all weapons at its disposal if Ukraine acquires nuclear weapons.
gave The New York Times It was reported last week that some unnamed Western officials had suggested to US President Joe Biden that he might give nuclear weapons to Ukraine before he leaves office.
“If the country with which we are essentially at war now becomes a nuclear power, what do we do? In that case, we will use all, I want to emphasize, absolutely all of the destruction. The means are available to Russia. We will not allow it, we will monitor their every move,” Putin said during a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“If officially someone transfers something, it will mean a violation of all the non-proliferation commitments that they have made,” Putin said.
Putin also said it was virtually impossible for Ukraine to develop nuclear weapons, but it was possible that it could develop some sort of “dirty bomb,” a conventional bomb loaded with radioactive material to spread contamination. He said that in this case, Russia will respond appropriately.
Russia has repeatedly said without providing evidence that Ukraine could use such a device.
Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its collapse in 1991, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in exchange for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly complained that the move left his country without any security, and therefore should join NATO, which Moscow strongly opposes.