Russia's Putin issues new nuclear warnings to West over Ukraine

Russia's Putin issues new nuclear warnings to West over Ukraine

Putin tells West that Russia cannot be defeated
Russia suspends participation in New START nuclear arms treaty
Putin puts new strategic nuclear weapons on 'combat duty'
President says Russia will resume nuclear tests if U.S. does
Blinken: move is deeply unfortunate and irresponsible

Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a warning to the West over Ukraine by suspending a landmark nuclear arms control treaty, announcing that new strategic systems had been put on combat duty, and threatening to resume nuclear tests.

Nearly a year after ordering an invasion that has triggered the biggest confrontation with the West in six decades, Putin said Russia would achieve its aims and accused the West of trying to destroy it.

"The elites of the West do not hide their purpose. But they also cannot fail to realise that it is impossible to defeat Russia on the battlefield," he told his country's political and military elite.

Alleging that the United States was turning the war into a global conflict, Putin said Russia was suspending participation in the New START treaty, its last major arms control treaty with Washington.

Signed by then-U.S. president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in 2010, the treaty caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that the countries can deploy.