Russia threatens nuclear war if it loses in Ukraine

A Kremlin insider warned Thursday that Russia could start a nuclear war if it lost its conventional war in Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s security council and a close ally of President Vladimir Putin, made the threat in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

“The loss by a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the outbreak of a nuclear war,” Medvedev wrote in a post criticizing Western powers ahead of a Friday meeting in Germany to discuss further military support for Ukraine.

Medvedev, who served as...