Putin warned that if Ukraine acquires nuclear weapons, Russia will employ "all – absolutely all" means of attack against it.

Putin, who is currently in Astana, responded to a hypothetical question about how Russia would react if Ukraine were to possess nuclear weapons.

The prospect of such weapons in Ukraine evidently alarmed the Russian dictator. In response to the question regarding what the Kremlin would do if that were to happen, Putin repeatedly stated that he would not allow such a scenario to unfold, writes MT.

According to Putin, Western officials who propose such ideas should understand that he would no longer restrain himself.

"Do you think, on a level of common sense, if a country with which we are essentially currently in combat becomes a nuclear state, what should we do? In that case, we will use all – I want to emphasize this – all means of destruction available to Russia. All of them! We will not allow this," Putin declared, pointing his finger during a press conference following his official visit to Kazakhstan.

Putin believes that Ukraine cannot independently recreate nuclear weapons at this time, even though during the Soviet era, "it was a very high-tech, industrially developed republic." However, if Ukraine attempts to do so, Russia will immediately put a stop to those efforts, Putin assured.

"We will not allow this to happen in Ukraine itself. We will monitor every step that occurs there. <…> Today, creating [nuclear weapons] almost from scratch would be practically impossible. Something dirty, as they say, a dirty bomb, just waste from nuclear power plants can be collected, of course, but even in this case, the response will be absolutely adequate to the threats posed to the Russian Federation," Putin emphasized.

Background. According to The New York Times, American and European officials suggested to President Joe Biden to help Ukraine regain the nuclear weapons it inherited from the Soviet Union, which it transferred to Russia in exchange for security guarantees under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994. Sources indicated that such a decision would serve as an immediate and powerful deterrent to the Kremlin.