'We Should Prepare': Russia May Use Nuclear Weapons, Warns Zelenskyy

The CIA director had also said Russia's setbacks raised the risk of Putin deploying a tactical nuclear weapon.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

(Photo: PTI)

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned on Saturday, 16 April, that the world “must prepare” for the possible use of nuclear weapons by Russia, adding, "We shouldn't wait for the moment when Russia decides to use nuclear weapons,” news agency AFP reported.

Zelenskyy’s interview was relayed by six Ukrainian news websites and also broadcast by the Ukrainian presidency on Telegram.

The president claimed that anti-radiation medicine and air raid shelters would be needed and added that the Russians "can use any weapon, I'm convinced of it."

This comes after 52 days of the Russian invasion on Ukraine, with the port city of Mariupol, as per Russia, completely cleared of Ukrainian forces, with only a small number of Ukrainian forces remaining inside a steel factory.

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy has threatened to withdraw from peace talks with Russia if Ukrainian fighters in Mariupol are killed.

Zelenskyy had warned on Friday that the world should be worried about the threat Russian President Vladimir Putin posed.

Similar comments were made a day earlier by Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns, who had said, Russia's battlefield setbacks raised the risk that Putin could deploy a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon, AFP reported.

The claims come after Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov had told CNN that Moscow would use a nuclear weapon on Ukraine in the case of an "existential threat" against Russia, .

(With inputs from AFP and CNN.)