Medvedev says Russia will use nuclear weapons if Ukraine gains ground

"There would simply be no other solution. Our enemies should pray to our fighters not to let the world go up in nuclear flames," he explained, citing the "stipulations of Russia's Presidential Decree".

Former Russian president and current deputy chairman of the country's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said that Moscow will be forced to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine if Kiev, with the cooperation of the Atlantic Alliance, gains the upper hand over Russia.

"Imagine if the offensive, in conjunction with NATO, succeeds and ends with part of our land being taken away. Then we would have to use nuclear weapons under the stipulations of Russia's Presidential Decree," Medvedev said.

"There would simply be no other solution. Our enemies should pray to our fighters not to let the world go up in nuclear flames," former president Medvedev remarked on his official profile on the social network Telegram.

This is not the first time that Medvedev - President Vladimir Putin's right-hand man - has warned of the possible use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, a point he has made on several occasions in an attempt to intimidate Kiev and its international allies.

Indeed, the former president indicated that Russia would increase its nuclear capabilities in response to the possible accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO. Months later, Helsinki is already on the list of allies and Stockholm is on its way.

Likewise, last September, shortly after Russia's accession of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporiyia, Medvedev asserted that Moscow could use nuclear weapons to defend its sovereignty over these territories.