The threat of Vladimir Putin unleashing nuclear weapons “is not a scare tactic it is reality,” warned his close henchman and ex-president of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev. If the Kremlin fails to win the war in Ukraine “on our terms,” this will trigger World War Three, he claimed.

Medvedev, leader of the main pro-Putin political party United Russia, and deputy head of the powerful Kremlin security council, insisted the West should take seriously Moscow’s regular threats about nuclear war. “These are not hints,” he said in an interview with Vedomosti newspaper. “Everyone needs to understand nuclear weapons could be used in certain circumstances.” He continued: “This is not a scare tactic – it is reality. Russia’s nuclear doctrine under which our country reserves the right to use such weapons in the event of a threat to our state’s security can hardly be described as a mere hint….

“The list of military threats requiring nuclear deterrence measures has also been expanded.” Aggression against Russia or ally Belarus by a non-nuclear state, such as Ukraine, backed by a nuclear power, for example Britain, “is viewed as a joint attack on our countries” and could lead to a nuclear response.

“We have every right to respond to a critical threat to our sovereignty. The final decision will rest with the Head of State (Putin).”

Medvedev accused Western leaders of a “Neanderthal mindset and abysmal ignorance”, and warned they were “trying to push the world to the brink of nuclear apocalypse”.

“Such a conflict would obliterate the entire history of human civilisation and plunge it back into a primitive state—assuming any of the planet’s billions of people survived at all.”

Asked about the threat of WW3 he claimed this could be triggered by Putin facing to “secure an end to the conflict on our terms”.

Medvedev said: “It must end on our terms to prevent any possibility of it recurring in the future or escalating into a global conflict.”

Ukraine launched an overnight drone strike on Russia’s main resort city of Sochi, using aerial and sea drones, as several members of Vladimir Putin’s elite were reportedly staying in the area.

The port in Sochi which is just two miles from Putin’s luxury official Sochi palace Bocharov Ruchey triggered embankment fires and disrupted a nighttime concert.

Eight people were injuried with five taken to hospital. Volodymyr Zelensky said from an official visit to Canada: “Russia continues its terror against Ukraine every day. And every day it receives a just response.”

Seperately, strategic Caspian Sea port Makhachkala in Dagestan, used to receive Iranian military imports,was struck by Ukraine in fierce long-distance drone attacks.

These strikes came after a record-breaking 2,100-mile military drone strike on Novy Urengoy, Putin’s gas capital, just below the Arctic Circle in Siberia.