Russia's foreign minister told a Geneva disarmament meeting on Tuesday that Kyiv has been seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, calling this a real danger that it needed to prevent.
"Ukraine still has Soviet technologies and the means of delivery of such weapons," Sergei Lavrov told the Geneva-based Conference on Disarmament in a pre-recorded address. "We cannot fail to respond to this real danger."
He delivered the speech to a thin crowd since many diplomats including US, France and Britain staged a walk-out to protest Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
They stood in a circle outside the meeting for the duration of Lavrov's speech, holding a Ukrainian flag. Lavrov was supposed to attend the session in person but the visit was cancelled, with Russia accusing unidentified EU states of blocking his flight path.
At the same meeting, Ukraine's foreign minister accused Russia of war crimes through its shelling of his country and called for a special meeting to address Russian aggression and weapons of mass destruction.
Earlier in the session, the president organized a minute of silence for the victims of fighting in Ukraine.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia will continue the offensive in Ukraine until its "goals are achieved."
"Russian armed forces will continue to conduct the special military operation until set goals are achieved," Shoigu told at a press conference aired on state television. He said Moscow aims to "demilitarise and de-Nazify" Ukraine, as well as protect Russia from a "military threat created by Western countries."
