The head of Russia’s State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, has warned that if Western governments were to provide Kyiv with nuclear weapons, a nuclear conflict could follow in the heart of Europe and it could “disappear”.

No Western countries have suggested supplying Ukraine with nuclear weapons in the face of Russia’s invasion and nor has Kyiv sought them. Western countries have shown reluctant to provide even some of the heavier conventional weapons that Ukraine is seeking.