Putin threatens that Ukraine war could turn NUCLEAR

Putin threatens that Ukraine war could turn NUCLEAR and warns ‘in the event of a Third World War there will be no winners, including America’

• Vladimir Putin said there ‘would be no winners’ in the event of World War Three
• Lukashenko revealed Belarus has received tactical nuclear weapons from Russia

Vladimir Putin has threatened that the war in Ukraine could turn into a nuclear conflict, warning ‘there will be no winners, including America’ in a Third World War.

The despot’s threats to escalate his invasion comes as Russian forces continued their endless assault on Ukraine by firing cruise missiles at the southern city of Odesa overnight.

The attack, launched from the Black Sea, killed at least three people and injured more than a dozen others in a strike that damaged homes, a warehouse, shops and cafes, the regional state administration said.

Amid Russia’s response to Ukraine launching their much-anticipated counteroffensive, Putin, speaking at a meeting with Russian war correspondents in Moscow yesterday, said: ‘The United States pretends not to be afraid of an escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, but sane people there clearly do not want to take this to a Third World War. 

‘In the event of a Third World War, there will be no winners, including America.’

Vladimir Putin (pictured yesterday) has threatened that the war in Ukraine could turn into a nuclear conflict, warning ‘there will be no winners, including America’ in a Third World War.

Putin’s comments came as Russian forces continued their assault on Ukraine by firing cruise missiles at the southern city of Odesa overnight (pictured)

His comments come as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko revealed that his country had started to receive tactical nuclear weapons from its ally Russia.

READ MORE: Russian threat to cut Britain off from the internet: Former president Medvedev says Moscow could ‘destroy our enemies’ undersea cables’ after report claims Western involvement in Nord Stream blast  

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Lukashenko told Russian state TV that his country was receiving weapons – some of which he said were three times more powerful than US atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus is Moscow’s first move of such warheads – shorter-range less powerful nuclear weapons that could potentially be used on the battlefield – outside Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Putin said on Friday that Russia, which will retain control of the tactical nuclear weapons, would start deploying them in Belarus after special storage facilities to house them were made ready. 

The United States has criticised Putin’s decision but has said it has no intention of altering its own stance on strategic nuclear weapons and has not seen any signs that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon. 

The Russian step is nonetheless being watched closely by the United States and its allies as well as by China, which has repeatedly cautioned against the use of nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine. 

Revealing that Belarus had taken the delivery of weapons, Lukashenko told Rossiya-1 Russian state TV channel: ‘We have missiles and bombs that we have received from Russia.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (left with Putin last week) revealed that his country has started to receive tactical nuclear weapons from its ally Russia

The United States has criticised Putin’s decision to deliver tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus. Pictured: Ukrainian service members ride a BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicle, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near the front line in the newly liberated village Neskuchne

‘The bombs are three times more powerful than those (dropped on) Hiroshima and Nagasaki,’ he added, speaking on a road in a forest clearing with military vehicles parked nearby and some kind of military storage facility visible in the background.

During yesterday’s meeting with 18 Russian war correspondents and bloggers in the Kremlin, a gloating Putin also claimed that Western tanks, including US-made Bradley fighting vehicles and German-made Leopards ‘burn nicely, as we expected’.

He added: ‘Ammunition detonates inside, and pieces fly off in different directions.’ 

On a day of threats, the Russian tyrant also hinted at another attempt to take control of Kyiv amid Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

Despite Moscow’s botched attack to capture the city last year, Putin suggested a fresh round of mobilisation could be announced in a new Russian offensive.

Hundreds of thousands of Russians fled the country last September when their leader announced 300,000 men would be mobilised to boost his invasion. 

‘Should we return there or not? Why am I asking such a rhetorical question?’ Putin told 18 Russian war correspondents and bloggers in the Kremlin.

‘Only I can answer this myself.’ 

Putin’s warnings come as Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev said on Wednesday there were no longer any ‘moral limits’ to stop Moscow from destroying its enemies’ undersea cables in a threat the United Kingdom and its allies.

This is because of what what he said was Western complicity in the Nord Stream pipeline blasts last year, that are still officially unexplained. 

Medvedev made the threatening comments on his official channel on the Telegram messaging application early on Wednesday, amid fears that Russia could cut off cables connecting Britain to the internet causing widespread blackouts.

On a day of threats, Putin (pictured yesterday) also hinted at another attempt to take control of Kyiv amid Ukraine’s counteroffensive

Emergency workers extinguish a fire after a Russian rocket hit in a storehouse building in Odesa, Ukraine overnight

Explosions ruptured both Nord Stream 1 and the newly built Nord Stream 2 pipelines, carrying gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, last September. 

The former and incumbent presidents’ threats comes amid another brutal Russian attack on Ukraine. 

Moscow’s overnight attack on Odesa involved four sea-launched Kalibr cruise missiles, three of which were intercepted by air defences, the regional administration said on Facebook.

Three employees of a food warehouse were killed and seven others injured, and rescuers were searching for possible survivors under the rubble, it said.

A further six people – guards and residents of a neighbouring house – were injured.

Andriy Kovalov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s General Staff, said Russian forces have increased missile and aerial strikes on Ukraine.

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