A close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin has claimed that Washington and Brussels are “leading the world to a terrible war” with plans to send more weapons to Ukraine. Adding to this week’s nuclear threats from ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, Duma speaker Viacheslav Volodin warned that Western plans to arm Kyiv with more powerful weapons “will lead to a global catastrophe” – describing arguments against using nuclear weapons “in local conflicts” as “untenable”. “If Washington and Nato countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons,” claimed the ex-deputy PM.

Leaders in Washington, France, Berlin and other European parliaments “must realise their responsibility to humanity”, Mr Volodin claimed. Following recent announcements on Patriot missile defence systems, Kyiv has urged its allies to “think faster”, as pressure piles on Germany to decide on whether to allow Nato partners to arm Kyiv with its main battle tank, the Leopard 2. A close ally of Vladimir Putin has threatened that Western arms deliveries to Ukraine “will lead to a global catastrophe”, claiming that arguments against using weapons of mass destruction “in local conflicts” are untenable.

Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, formerly a deputy prime minister and head of Mr Putin’s presidential administration, warned that US and Nato support of Ukraine was leading the world to a “terrible war”. “If Washington and Nato countries supply weapons that will be used to strike civilian cities and attempt to seize our territories, as they threaten, this will lead to retaliatory measures using more powerful weapons,” Mr Volodin said on Telegram. “Arguments that the nuclear powers have not previously used weapons of mass destruction in local conflicts are untenable.

Because these states did not face a situation where there was a threat to the security of their citizens and the territorial integrity of the country.” “Deliveries of offensive weapons to the Kyiv regime will lead to a global catastrophe,” he added, claiming that politicians in the US, France, Germany and elsewhere in Europe “must realise their responsibility to humanity”. Western allies pledged billions of pounds’ worth of weapons for Ukraine last week, although they failed to persuade Germany to lift a veto on providing Leopard 2 battle tanks, which are held by an array of Nato nations but whose transfer to Ukraine requires Berlin’s approval.