Vladimir Putin has issued yet another chilling threat about nuclear war during his speech to Russia's Federal Assembly this morning.
Putin, 71, warned the West that there is a genuine risk of an enormous conflict if they opt to send their own troops to join Ukrainian soldiers in the ex-Soviet State.
The Russian President also claimed Moscow has weapons capable of striking targets across the West.
Putin continued to accuse the West of being hell-bent on weakening Russia ahead of next month's presidential election.
Vladimir Putin made yet another threat during his address to the Russian Parliament
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He said: "(Western nations) must realise that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory.
"All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilisation. Don't they get that?!"
Putin also claimed that Nato forces are "preparing to strike our territory".
The Russian President, who argued "Russophobia blinds people and deprives them of their rational faculties", added: "Without Russia there is no solid peace in the world."
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Putin is seeking re-election in just a few weeks time
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Putin's claim about Russia operating as a global peacemaker comes shortly after the second anniversary of the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine.
Russia also annexed other parts of the ex-Soviet state in 2014 and separately invaded parts of Georgia in 2008.
However, the latest incursion into Ukraine has triggered Moscow's worst diplomatic crisis since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Western nations have responded by clubbing together, particularly in Nato.
World leaders meet at a Nato summit
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The bloc is expanding to include Sweden and Finland much to the dismay of Putin and his allies.
Ramping up the rhetoric about Russia's deteriorating relations with the West, Putin suggested Western politicians recall the fate of previous figures who unsuccessfully invaded his nation.
He said: "But now the consequences will be far more tragic. They think it (war) is a cartoon."
Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion in 1812 proved a disaster for France and Nazi Germany's Operation Barbarossa also ended with victory for Moscow.
