Vladimir Putin's nuclear war warnings show he fears defeat in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin's threats of nuclear war are a form of "psychological warfare" designed to cover up his fears of defeat in Ukraine, David Lammy has declared.

The Foreign Secretary said the Russian tyrant "tends to throw dust" into the eyes of his opponents to deter them from supporting Kyiv.

But Mr Lammy said the West had ignored Putin's threats of sending tanks and missile systems, such as HIMARS and MLRS, to Ukraine.

And, speaking alongside General Valerii Zaluzhyni, Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, the Foreign Secretary said: "I think we have to recognise Putin's bullying bluster and rhetoric for what it is: a sort of deliberate psychological warfare that is usually indicative of his own fears about losing this ridiculous and horrendous bloody escapade of his.

"He tends to throw dust up into the eyes. He said don't send tanks, we ignored it. We sent tanks. He said don't send missiles, we ignored him and we sent missiles. He said don't train Ukrainian troops. The UK has done the lion's share of a lot of that training.

"Now, look, there is a challenge. The challenge is that obviously in a democracy with a free press that, of course, underpins our democracy, and is important in our democracy, there is a sort of public debate and discussion, and sometimes that discussion becomes quite detailed in terms of tactics and how you prosecute a war in a way that the tactics of Russia, Iran and North Korea are not public.

"That relies on the intelligence capability of us and our Five Eyes partners particularly, in sometimes revealing what we know what is happening. So, there is this imbalance between democracies where obviously there is a healthy discussion, and autocracies ... and we've just got to get that balance right.

"I have to err on the side of not going into too much detail about how we are assisting Ukraine and are going to continue assisting Ukraine."

General Zaluzhyni outlined how Ukraine can win the war with Russia. He called on the West to shoot down Moscow's drones over Western Ukraine and reiterated demands for long-range missiles to hit Russian air bases.

The Foreign Secretary told the panel on Ukraine at Labour Conference in Liverpool: "It's important to take on this other threat that can also get lost in the noise.

"It's the axis of renegades which sees Russia teaming up with Iran - we saw with the recent shipment of ballistic missiles - and teaming up with North Korea as well, and also the west is doing a lot to urge China not to throw its lot in, although we are concerned about equipment that's making its way into Russia.

"We are doing all we can not just to squeeze Russia, but to squeeze those that would ensure that the weapons and means [to fight Ukraine] are used."

Russian forces struck a multi-storey apartment building in Ukraine's second-largest city, Kharkiv, on Saturday evening, wounding 21 people and prompting an evacuation of some of its residents.

Ukraine's air force said it destroyed 71 out of 80 attack drones that Russia launched overnight.

It comes as Ukraine's foreign minister Andriy Sybiha warned Moscow was planning strikes on Ukraine's nuclear facilities before the winter.

"According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Kremlin is preparing strikes on Ukrainian nuclear energy critical objects ahead of winter," Mr Sybiha wrote on X.

He urged the International Atomic Energy Agency and Ukraine's allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at the country's nuclear plants.

"This is preparation for a possible nuclear disaster scenario. Russia is a terrorist," Andriy Yermak, president Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff wrote on Telegram.