Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia will prevent any attempt by Ukraine to acquire nuclear weapons and will use all the weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if such a scenario occurs.
The New York Times reported last week that unidentified Western officials had suggested that US President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.
Speaking in Astana, Kazakhstan, Putin said that it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce nuclear weapons, but that it could make some kind of “dirty bomb”, Reuters reported.
Putin has boasted that Russia produces ten times more missiles than all NATO countries combined, and has threatened to strike “decision-making centers” in Kiev with its new intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs).
Speaking at the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) summit in Astana, Putin discussed the capabilities of the Oreshnik missile.
He said Russia was forced to deploy the new missile “in response to the enemy’s actions” – referring to the use of missiles manufactured in the United States and Great Britain inside Russian territory – and that “there is no analogue to the Russian Oreshnik in the world.” He said that Western equivalents would not appear anytime soon.
In the event of a massive use of the Oreshnik, the strike force would be comparable to nuclear weapons, he said.
He said that decision-making centers in Kiev could become targets for the Oreshnik missile, and noted that Ukraine had launched multiple strikes on Moscow and St. Petersburg. Earlier this month, Ukraine carried out its largest drone attack on Moscow.
US and British sources told the Guardian last week that they believed the Oreshnik missile fired at the Dnipro was an experimental nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), which has a theoretical range of less than 5,500km. That is enough to reach Europe from where it was fired at southwest Russia, but not the US.
Tass reported that Putin also said in Kazakhstan that other new missile systems could emerge and that Russia would continue combat testing of the Oreshnik.
