The terrifying truth behind Vladimir Putin's cryptic threat: 'Never seen before'
Russian President Vladimir Putin's bold threat to nations that try and stop his invasion of Ukraine can only mean one thing — nuclear retaliation.
That is the grim assessment of Professor of National Security at Curtin University, Alexey Muraviev.
As Russia on Thursday morning (local time) began its military operation on Ukraine, Putin issued a stark warning to other countries not to meddle.
"Whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to the consequences you have never seen in history," he said.
Prof Muraviev told Yahoo News Australia the Russian President was sending a "clear message" to Western countries.
"Russia is prepared to defend itself from any form of military aggression or any form of political or economic aggression by using all means necessary including nuclear weapons," he said.
"[Putin was saying] stay away from this conflict, don't interfere in any way," he continued.
"We need to remember Russia is a nuclear superpower.
"Putin is not fooling around, he is on a mission to achieve his objectives in Ukraine to turn Ukraine into neutralised buffer zone."
Senior Analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Dr Malcolm Davis said Putin's words were a fairly explicit threat to NATO forces.
"That if they did choose to intervene then Russia would respond with devastating force, including types of forces that they have not been encountered before," Dr Davis told the ABC.
"I take that to mean the implicit threat of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia against NATO."
'Russia aims to dismember Ukraine'
Dr Davis said this was just the beginning of a full-scale invasion, not a "special military operation".
"The objective is to "remove the government in Kyiv, to dismember Ukraine as a nationstate and to impose a Russia friendly government in Ukraine", he said.
Putin also appealed to those in the Ukrainian military, urging servicemen to put down their weapons and "go home".
"All servicemen of the Ukrainian army who fulfil this demand will be able to freely leave the combat zone and return to their families," he said.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already vowed the UK and its allies would respond "decisively" in the wake of the invasion.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared martial law and Russia's military said it had targeted Ukrainian air bases and other military assets, and had not targeted populated areas.
Shortly after Putin spoke in a televised address on Russian state TV, explosions could be heard in the pre-dawn quiet of the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine.
Gunfire rattled near the capital's main airport, the Interfax news agency said.
Video on social media shows explosions in the sky above Mariupol in Donetsk – a region occupied by Russian-backed separatists.
It is also a region Mr Putin earlier this week recognised as independent.
With Associated Press, AAP and Reuters
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
