Putin delivers a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday delivered a nuclear warning to the West over Ukraine, suspending a bilateral nuclear arms control treaty, announcing new strategic systems had been put on combat duty and warning that Moscow could resume nuclear tests.

Speaking nearly a year to the day since ordering an invasion that has triggered the biggest confrontation with the West since the depths of the Cold War, Putin said Russia would achieve its war aims and accused the West of trying to destroy Russia.

Cautioning the United States that it was stoking the war into a global conflict, Putin said that Russia was suspending participation in the New START Treaty, the last major arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington.

It limits the number of nuclear warheads the world's two biggest nuclear powers can deploy and is due to expire in 2026.

"I am forced to announce today that Russia is suspending its participation in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty," Putin told his country's political and military elite.