Russian President Vladimir Putin “said the West faced the prospect of nuclear conflict if it intervened more directly in the war in Ukraine, using an annual speech to the nation on Thursday to escalate his threats against Europe and the United States,” the New York Times reports.
Putin said Western countries that are helping Ukraine strike Russian territory “must, in the end, understand” that “all this truly threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons, and therefore the destruction of civilization.
”He added: “We also have weapons that can strike targets on their territory. Do they not understand this?”