Putin issues new nuclear warning to West over Ukraine | Semafor

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin issued a stark nuclear warning to Ukraine and Kyiv’s Western allies Wednesday, stating that Russia may use nuclear weapons if it was attacked. Putin added that an attack on Russia using conventional weaponry that was backed by another nuclear power would be considered a joint attack.

The warning seemed aimed directly at the West, as the US and European Union countries have signaled they may soon grant Kyiv’s long-standing request to use Western long-range missiles to target Russia.

Many analysts have said that Putin’s “red lines” — a common term for the point at which he may launch a nuclear war — are “growing less credible” the more often the Russian president fails to live up to his threats. Moscow’s increasingly violent rhetoric, such as a Kremlin official warning that Kyiv would be turned into a “molten grey mass” last week, has had little effect on Western decision-making, with most states willing to go ahead with incremental escalation, according to the Financial Times. However, one expert did warn that there is a risk that the West will “overlearn” from pushing Putin, and the Russian president may escalate on other fronts, as seen in Moscow’s decision to arm Iran-backed Houthis in the Middle East.