Ukraine and its Western allies should not try "to fight to victory with a nuclear power," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 28.
Since the launch of the full-scale invasion, Russia has repeatedly invoked the threat of its nuclear arsenal to deter Western military support for Ukraine.
In his General Assembly address, Lavrov called Western attempts to defeat Russia "a suicidal escapade."
"I'm not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is," Lavrov said.
Lavrov's remarks come days after Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed revisions to Moscow's nuclear doctrine at a U.N. Security Council meeting. Putin announced that Russia could respond to conventional missile strikes with nuclear weapons, and indicated that Moscow would treat any attack backed by a nuclear-armed country as a coordinated assault.
Lavrov also derided Ukraine's peace formula, calling it a "doomed ultimatum" while defending Russia's ongoing occupation of Ukrainian territory.
Russia's escalating nuclear rhetoric coincides with President Volodymyr Zelensky's visit to Washington, where he continued to push U.S. President Joe Biden to allow Ukraine to use American weapons to strike targets deep within Russian.
The U.S. announced around $8 billion in additional military aid for Ukraine during the visit, but did not signal any changes to its policy around long-range strikes.
Zelensky's spokesperson, Serhii Nikiforov, said during an interview on Ukrainian television that Russia would be "the first to know" if restrictions on long-range attacks were lifted.
"First, it is important to understand that the first to learn about the authorization to strike deep into Russian territory will be the Russians themselves," Nikiforov said.
"They will be the first to know it, and then there will be an official announcement."
Olena Goncharova
