MOSCOW: President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was attacked by any state and that any conventional attack on Russia that was supported by a nuclear power would be considered to be a joint attack. The warning came hours after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Wednesday of plotting potentially catastrophic attacks on Ukrainian nuclear plants, in a defiant UN address in which he denounced bids to impose peace from the outside.

Speaking from the UN rostrum in a black polo jacket, Zelensky said that Ukrainian intelligence has found that Russia is scanning the country’s nuclear infrastructure by satellite. Russian President Vladimir Putin “does seem to be planning attacks on our nuclear power plants and the infrastructure, aiming to disconnect the plants from the power grid,” Zelensky said. “Any critical incident in the energy system could lead to a nuclear disaster, a day like that must never come,” Zelensky said. “Moscow needs to understand this, and this depends in part on your determination to put pressure on the aggressor,” he told the General Assembly.

Russia captured the giant Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant soon after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia in recent weeks has been pounding Ukraine’s electricity grid, in what Western and Ukrainian officials describe as an attempt to leave the country shivering during the winter. Putin, opening a meeting of Russia’s Security Council attended by top officials on Wednesday, said that proposals had been made to change Russia’s nuclear doctrine and said he would like to underscore one of the proposed key changes.

“It is proposed that aggression against Russia by any non-nuclear state, but with the participation or support of a nuclear state, be considered as their joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Putin said. “The conditions for Russia’s transition to the use of nuclear weapons are also clearly fixed,” Putin said, adding that Moscow would consider such a move if it detected the start of a massive launch of missiles, aircraft, or drones against it. Russia, Putin said, also reserved the right to use nuclear weapons if it or Belarus were the subject of aggression, including by conventional weapons. Putin said the clarifications were carefully calibrated and commensurate with the modern military threats facing Russia.

‘Never accept’ deal from outside

Zelensky on Thursday will head to the White House to see President Joe Biden and present what he describes as a “victory plan” that shows a path forward for Ukraine. In his UN address, Zelensky singled out China and Brazil as he questioned the “true interest” of countries that have been pressing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia. Employing the language of the Global South, Zelensky said: “You will not boost your power at Ukraine’s expense, and the world has already been through colonial wars and conspiracies of great powers at the expense of those who are small.” “Ukrainians will never accept — will never accept — why anyone in the world believes that such a brutal colonial past, which suits no one today, can be imposed on Ukraine now,” Zelensky said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a Security Council session on Tuesday that diplomacy was the only solution. Zelensky last year flew to the General Assembly in a dramatic first wartime appearance and, while he maintains star power, the political landscape has changed. Donald Trump, running again for president, on Wednesday called Zelensky the “greatest salesman on Earth.” “Every time Zelensky comes to the United States, he walks away with $100 billion,” Trump said, claiming “we’re stuck in that war unless I’m president.”

The United States has provided around $175 billion in both military and economic assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022, and Biden has ruled out sending troops. Trump in the past has voiced admiration for Putin and, during his 2017-2021 presidency, was impeached for the first time over delaying aid to Ukraine to press Zelensky to dig up dirt on Biden. Zelensky said he hoped to see Trump while in the United States and explain that the war is more complicated. Zelensky has sharply criticized Trump’s running mate, J D Vance, who has said bluntly that he does not care about Ukraine and that the United States should focus instead on confronting China. “Let Mr Vance read up on the history of the Second World War, when a country was forced to give part of its territory to one particular person,” Zelensky told The New Yorker. — Agencies