Vladimir Putin has warned the West that it risks the “destruction of civilisation” in a nuclear war if Nato countries send troops to fight in Ukraine.
In a speech on Thursday, the Russian president said any deployment of Nato forces would have “tragic” consequences.
His comments came after French president Emmanuel Macron said that sending Western troops to Ukraine is not “ruled out”.
Putin said: ″(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?”
Putin said Russia’s “strategic nuclear forces are in a state of full readiness”.
Referencing failed attempts by Nazi Germany and Napoleon to invade Russia, he said “now the consequences will be far more tragic”.
He added of the West: “They think it (war) is a cartoon.”
Other Western leaders quickly poured cold water on Macron’s comments amid fears of escalating the war beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz said: “There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil who are sent there by European states or Nato states.”
Downing Street said Britain did “not have any plans to make a large scale deployment” of troops to Ukraine.
Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s secretary general, also said there were “no plans for Nato combat troops on the ground in Ukraine”.