Putin vows to ‘go to the end’ in Ukraine in thinly-veiled nuke warning as Kyiv unleashes ‘heaviest kamikaze drone barrage of the war’

Vladimir Putin has vowed to go ‘to the end’ on the battlefield in Ukraine, declaring in an alarming new interview that the Kremlin may revise its doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons in light of perceived Western aggression.

Speaking at the end of a pair of state visits to North Korea and Vietnam this week, the Russian president accused Kiev’s Western partners of further escalating tensions by greenlighting the use of NATO weapons against targets on Russian territory.

The belligerent Kremlin chief also accused Western countries of “lowering the threshold” for using nuclear weapons against Russia – an accusation for which he provided no evidence.

These alleged developments led the 71-year-old autocrat to conclude that Moscow must now consider updating its nuclear doctrine in preparation for nuclear war, announcing that a defeat in Ukraine would mean “the end of the Russian state.”

‘It means the end of the thousand-year history of the Russian state. I think this is clear to everyone… Isn’t it better to go all the way, to the end?’ he asked rhetorically.

The disturbing interview came just hours before Ukraine launched one of its largest-ever drone attacks on Russia, sparking fires at a pair of oil fields and an air base.

In this undated clip, a Russian tank explodes after a Ukrainian drone attack

A fireball lights up the night sky in Russia after a Ukrainian drone strike

A view of the destruction of a house on the Kostyantynivka front as the war between Russia and Ukraine continues in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on June 20, 2024

1st Brigade of the National Guard ‘Bureviy’ fires a tank while carrying out a mission in a BMP-2 to fire on Russian positions in the Serebryanskyy Forest, in Luhansk, Ukraine on June 19, 2024

Putin said just days after signing a comprehensive strategic partnership with nuclear pariah state North Korea that the US, Britain and other Western partners are “continually raising the stakes and escalating the situation around Ukraine.”

“They seem to think we’re going to get scared at some point. But at the same time they also say that they want to achieve a strategic defeat of Russia on the battlefield,” he said, adding that this would mean the end of the Russian Federation as it is known.

‘And then the question arises: why should we be afraid? Isn’t it better to go all the way, to the end? This is basic formal logic…

‘I think that one [in the West] those who think so, and even more those who say so, are again making a great mistake.’

He then began ranting about the West’s alleged willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons against Russia, warning that this could prompt the Kremlin to reexamine its own nuclear doctrine.

That was last updated in 2020, two years before the outbreak of war in Ukraine.

Existing doctrine allows Russian forces to use nuclear weapons if its enemies use weapons of mass destruction against the Federation or its allies – or if Moscow receives credible information that an attack is about to take place.

However, the doctrine also allows the Kremlin to turn to nuclear weapons if an enemy “threatens the existence of the Russian state” with the use of conventional weapons – a clause that is worrying given Ukraine’s willingness to attack targets on Russian territory with NATO-supplied hardware. .

“We know that the potential adversary is working on it – related to lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons,” Putin said.

“We are thinking about what could be changed in nuclear doctrine.”

When asked whether Ukraine’s use of Western long-range weapons against Russian territory could be considered an act of aggression, the Kremlin chief responded with a disturbing comment.

‘This requires additional research, but it is getting close.’

Putin said defeat in Ukraine would mean “the end of the Russian state.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un smile as they walk after talks in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right foreground, attend the official welcome ceremony at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, on Wednesday, June 19, 2024

In this shot, an oil depot can be seen on fire in the distance after a Ukrainian air strike

Putin’s interview with reporters took place hours before Ukraine unleashed one of the heaviest kamikaze drones on Russian targets in the war so far.

Two targets in the Krasnodar region – the Yeysk air base and the Ilsky oil refinery – were hit by the unmanned craft, as well as a major oil depot in Volgograd.

The Ilsky refinery is one of the most important fuel producers in southern Russia, with a capacity to refine 6.6 million tons of crude oil (132,000 barrels per day) per year.

The head of the local district, Andrei Doroshevsky, said this morning via the messaging app Telegram that the fire had finally been brought under control.

“Tonight the civilian infrastructure of our region was subjected to a massive attack by the criminal regime in Kiev,” he said, adding that a drone also damaged administrative buildings at the Ilsky oil refinery.

The factory was already hit by drones in February.

Russian defense officials claimed that Kiev had sent a total of 119 Ukrainian air and naval kamikaze drones.

Six of these were unmanned boats, they said, which have proven extremely effective in the conflict, having sunk several ships from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Separately, regional authorities said open fires had been extinguished at oil depots in the Tambov and Rostov regions.

Kiev has pushed back key Russian targets in recent months in response to incessant drone and missile attacks by Moscow’s forces, which have caused widespread destruction in Ukraine and crippled its energy sector.