An ally of President Vladimir Putin issued a stark new nuclear warning to Ukraine and the West on Tuesday as referendums billed by Russia as a prelude to its annexing 4 Ukrainian areas entered their fifth and ultimate day.

Tuesday’s nuclear warning by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Safety Council, is one in all a number of issued by Mr Putin and his associates in latest weeks.

Analysts say they’re designed to discourage Ukraine and the West by hinting at a readiness to make use of tactical nuclear weapons to defend newly annexed territory, the place the Russian forces have confronted sturdy Ukrainian counter-offensives in latest weeks.

Mr Medvedev’s warning differed from earlier ones in that he predicted for the primary time that the NATO army alliance wouldn’t danger nuclear battle and immediately enter the Ukraine battle even when Moscow struck Ukraine with nuclear weapons.

“I imagine that NATO wouldn’t immediately intrude within the battle even on this state of affairs,” Mr Medvedev mentioned in a submit on Telegram. “The demagogues throughout the ocean and in Europe will not be going to die in a nuclear apocalypse.”

Moscow’s newest broadside got here as European international locations rushed to research unexplained leaks in two Russian pure fuel pipelines below the Baltic Sea, which is able to hinder efforts to restart the principle line taking Russian fuel to Germany.

Voting on whether or not to affix Russia in 4 Ukrainian areas partly managed by Moscow – Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia – entered its fifth and ultimate day. The West has mentioned it won’t recognise the result of what it regards as unlawful sham referendums.

Russian authorities officers have repeatedly warned they could use nuclear weapons to defend the brand new territory if Kyiv’s forces, who’re already in command of a few of it, attempt to take what Moscow says it is going to quickly regard as its sovereign territory.

NATO and the US haven’t detailed publicly how they’d reply to a Russian nuclear assault on Ukraine, however Jake Sullivan, White Home nationwide safety adviser, instructed CBS on Sunday that Washington had spelt out to Moscow what he described as “catastrophic penalties” for Russia.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak mentioned in an interview with Swiss newspaper Blick that Ukraine was making ready for the opportunity of a Russian nuclear strike however mentioned the onus was on nuclear-armed states to discourage Russia.

Mr Podolyak mentioned in the identical interview that Ukrainians who had helped Russia organise the annexation referendums would face treason costs and at the very least 5 years in jail.

Ukrainian officers have reported poll containers being taken door to door and residents being coerced into voting in entrance of Russian troops.

The British Ministry of Defence mentioned on Tuesday that Mr Putin was prone to announce the accession of the occupied areas to the Russian Federation throughout an handle to parliament on September 30.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian and Russian forces have been locked in heavy preventing in several elements of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned the Donetsk area within the east remained his nation’s – and Russia’s – high strategic precedence, with “significantly extreme” preventing engulfing a number of cities as Russian troops attempt to advance to the south and west.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor, mentioned three civilians had been killed and 13 wounded within the Donetsk area up to now 24 hours.

There have been additionally reported clashes within the Kharkiv area within the northeast – the main target of a Ukrainian counter-offensive this month.

The Ukrainian Air Power mentioned on Tuesday it had shot down three Iranian-made drones operated by Russia after an assault on the Mykolaiv area.

(Reuters/NAN)