Putin warns West: Sending troops to Ukraine would risk 'nuclear destruction of civilization'

Feb. 29 (UPI) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday that deploying NATO troops to fight in Ukraine would risk an escalation to nuclear conflict.

Putin used his "State of the Nation" annual address to both houses of parliament in Moscow to issue the threat in response to calls by French President Emmanuel Macron for Western countries to consider committing ground troops to help repel Russia's invasion.

"There has been talk of sending NATO contingents to Ukraine. But we remember the fate of those who sent contingents [in the past]. Now the consequences for the interventionists will be much more tragic," Putin told MPs and delegates.

"We, too, have weapons that can hit targets on their territory. This really threatens a conflict with nuclear weapons, and thus the destruction of civilization," he added.

Putin asserted that his military had seized the initiative in the war and was steadily advancing to "liberate new territories" after battlefield successes in Avdiivka in northeastern Ukraine and elsewhere. He insisted the struggle was backed by an "absolute majority of the Russian public."

"[We] will do everything to finish [the war], to eradicate Nazism, to solve all the tasks of the special military operation, to protect the sovereignty and security of our citizens," he said in the two-hour address, which was carried live in cinemas and outdoor screens across the country ahead of a presidential election March 15 he is expected to win by a landslide.

Putin raised the specter of nuclear war even though leading NATO capitals, including Washington, London and Berlin, immediately moved to quell tremors triggered by Macron's comments, stating categorically that there would be no U.S., British or German boots on the ground in Ukraine.

Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and NATO member-designate Sweden are on the record as holding the same position.

However, the prime minister of Estonia, a NATO state that borders Russia, broke ranks Thursday, with Kaja Kallas calling on Western leaders not to rule anything out in discussions on how to support Ukraine.

Putin said Russian "scientists and gunsmiths" were developing new families of "advanced weapon systems," but again dismissed U.S. intelligence reports circulating on Capitol Hill alleging Russia was working to deploy nuclear weapons in space.

U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, released an oblique statement earlier this month framing the matter as a "serious national security threat."

Others speculated on a weapon that is nuclear-fueled, but not nuclear-tipped.

The White House confirmed the following day that Russia was working on a space-based anti-satellite weapon that would violate the 1967 Outer Space Treaty ban on weapons of mass destruction in space, were it deployed.

The Kremlin dismissed the reports as "malicious fabrication."