Concerns about nuclear weapons

Following the end of the Soviet Union, Ukraine willingly surrendered its nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Putin, on the other hand, has shown concern that Ukraine has the capability and ambition to develop nuclear weapons, posing a threat to Moscow. While there is no evidence that Ukraine is attempting to obtain nuclear weapons, The New York Times stated that Putin has spread conspiracy theories in order to exaggerate the threat and justify an invasion.

"Whoever tries to hinder us, and even more so, to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate. And it will lead you to such consequences that you have never encountered in your history", the Russian president said. When asked if Putin's use of the term "such consequences that you have never encountered in your history" was interpreted as a threat to deploy nuclear weapons in the Ukraine crisis, France's foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, said it was.