'We Also Have Weapons': Putin Warns West Of Nuclear War, Says Moscow Can Hit Targets On Their Territory

Putin's warning came on French President Emmanuel Macron suggestion of sending ground troops in Ukraine. The idea was quickly rejected by the US, UK, Germany, and others.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday warned the West of the risk of a nuclear war and that Moscow could hit targets in their countries if they sent troops to fight in Ukraine.

Putin has been speaking of the dangers of a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia, but the Thursday warning has been the most explicit one. 

The warning came during Putin's address to lawmakers and members of the country's elite where he repeated his accusation that the West was bent on weakening Russia. He also suggested that Western leaders did not understand how dangerous their meddling could be in what he cast as Russia's own internal affairs. 

Putin's nuclear warning came on a specific reference to an idea floated by French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that NATO troops be sent to the ground in Ukraine, as per a Reuters report. The suggestion was though, quickly rejected by the United States, Germany, Britain, and others. 

"(Western nations) must realise that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilisation. Don't they get that?!" said Putin.

Warning further, a visibly angry Putin suggested that the West recall the fate of those leaders like Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler or France's Napoleon Bonaparte who had unsuccessfully invaded Russia in the past.

In his address, which comes just days ahead of the general elections in Russia where he is certain to be re-elected for another six years, he also lauded his country's vastly modernised nuclear arsenal, the largest in the world.

"Strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness," he said, noting that new-generation hypersonic nuclear weapons he first spoke about in 2018 had either been deployed or were at a stage where development and testing were being completed, the report added.