‘This is Not a Bluff’: Vladimir Putin Threatens Use of Nuclear Weapons in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin once again threatened the use of nuclear weapons as he announced a new mobilization of Russian military forces in the War of Ukraine.

The Russian leader gave a national address on Wednesday where he called 300,000 army reservists to action in response to multiple setbacks Moscow has seen lately in its attempts to annex Ukrainian territory forcibly. The Ukrainians recently launched a counteroffensive against Russia’s invading forces, dealing them some of the worst losses they’ve seen throughout their military campaign, and forcing the Russians to retreat in the northeast Kharkiv region.

In his speech, Putin announced that Russia would support referendums for the territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia to join the Russian Federation, a notion that Ukraine has dismissed as a political sham to annex those regions. Putin also railed against the Western nations backing Ukraine while insinuating that he’s prepared to use nuclear weapons.

“When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people,” Putin said in his address. “This is not a bluff. Those who are trying to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the wind patterns can also turn in their direction.”

Putin used much of his speech to repeat his false claims throughout the war while accusing Russia’s foes of attempting to “destroy” the country.

“The purpose of this West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country,” he said in a speech that was clearly intended to shift public ambivalence into stronger national support for the war effort. “They are already directly saying that in 1991, they were able to split the Soviet Union, and now the time has come for Russia itself, that it should disintegrate into many mortally hostile regions.”

“They made total Russophobia their weapon, including for decades purposefully cultivating hatred for Russia,” he said, adding that the West was using Ukraine as an “anti-Russian beachhead.”

Watch above via CNN.