Putin says Russia would use all weapons at its disposal if Ukraine got nuclear weapons

ASTANA (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia would use all weapons at its disposal against Ukraine if Kyiv were to acquire nuclear arms.

The New York Times reported last week that some unidentified Western officials had suggested U.S. President Joe Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

"If the country which we are essentially at war with now becomes a nuclear power, what do we do? In this case, we will use all, I want to emphasize this, precisely all means of destruction available to Russia. Everything: we will not allow it. We'll be watching their every move", Putin said during a press conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.

"If officially someone were to transfer something, then that would mean a violation of all the non-proliferation commitments they have made," Putin said.

Putin also said it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce a nuclear weapon, but that it might be able to make some kind of "dirty bomb", a conventional bomb laced with radioactive material in order to spread contamination. In that case, Russia would respond appropriately, he said.

Russia has repeatedly said, without providing evidence, that Ukraine might use such a device.

Ukraine inherited nuclear weapons from the Soviet Union after its 1991 collapse, but gave them up under a 1994 agreement, the Budapest Memorandum, in return for security assurances from Russia, the United States and Britain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly complained that the move left his country without security, citing this as a reason it should be admitted to NATO - something Moscow strongly opposes.

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and Maxim Rodionov; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)