Putin says he won't use nuclear weapons in Ukraine as Zelensky recalls country's fight against Nazis
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied having any intentions of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Despite the denial, Putin went on to describe the conflict as part of alleged efforts by the West to secure its global domination, which he insisted are doomed to fail.
Speaking at a conference of international foreign policy experts, Mr Putin said it was pointless for Russia to strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons.
"We see no need for that," Mr Putin said. "There is no point in that, neither political, nor military."
Mr Putin said an earlier warning of his readiness to use "all means available to protect Russia" did not amount to nuclear sabre-rattling but was merely a response to Western statements about their possible use of nuclear weapons.
He particularly mentioned Liz Truss saying in August that she would be ready to use nuclear weapons if she became Britain's prime minister, a remark which he said worried the Kremlin.
"What were we supposed to think?" Mr Putin said. "We saw that as a co-ordinated position, an attempt to blackmail us."
Watch: Britain needs to wake up to the return of state-on-state aggression, Ellwood says.
In a long speech full of diatribes against the US and its allies, Mr Putin accused them of trying to dictate their terms to other nations in a "dangerous, bloody and dirty" domination game.
Mr Putin, who sent his troops into Ukraine on 24 February, has cast Western support for Ukraine as part of broad efforts by Washington and its allies to enforce its will upon others through a rules-based world order.
He argued that the world has reached a turning point when "the West is no longer able to dictate its will to humankind but still tries to do it, and the majority of nations no longer want to tolerate it".
The Russian leader claimed that the Western policies will stir up more chaos, adding that "he who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind".
Mr Putin claimed that "humankind now faces a choice: accumulate a load of problems that will inevitably crush us all or try to find solutions that may not be ideal but could work and could make the world more stable and secure".
Without offering evidence, the Russian leader repeated Moscow's unproven allegation that Ukraine was plotting a false flag attack involving a radioactive dirty bomb it would try to pin on Russia.
Watch: Dirty bomb claims by Russia are a complete 'anathema – not viable'.
Ukraine has strongly rejected the claim, and its Western allies have dismissed it as "transparently false".
It comes as Ukraine's President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a speech that Ukraine was "again attacked from the sky by a flock of their crows" – referencing the Iranian Shahed drones used by Russia to attack Ukrainian cities.
"But we are fighting, we will shoot down more," he said, standing next to a downed drone.
Zelensky also said he was "grateful to everyone who participated in the fundraising for the 'catchers' of such 'Shaheds'".
"Enemy planes will fall. Enemy helicopters will fall. 'Shaheds' will fall. It is only the Ukrainian people who will not fall!" he said.
Mr Zelensky also referenced 28 October as the day Ukraine celebrates the liberation of the country from Nazi occupiers in the Second World War.
"We pay tribute to the Ukrainians who fought and defeated Nazism during World War II. Today we do it, holding not flowers in our hands, but weapons.
Watch: Ukraine – Putin's back is 'against the wall' as world heads towards 'Cuban missile crisis'.
"Today, preserving the memory of the exploits of our ancestors means protecting their achievements.
"Evil, which seemed to have been finally defeated and burned to the ground in 1945, is reborn from the ashes 80 years later.
"This is the problem of Ukrainians. We will not be affected. It will not cause damage to us. They will not come for us. Unfortunately, as a result, it becomes everyone's problem."
He went on: "Evil always begins in the same way. The invaders call themselves liberators. The invasion of one's army is called self-defense.
"As 80 years ago, the Ukrainian people stand up for the defense of their native land. And the enemy's blitzkrieg plan becomes a failure."
"Glory to all who fought against Nazism during World War II! Glory to all who are fighting for Ukraine today!" he said as he signed off the speech.
"Glory to our people who will go down in history!"
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