Ukraine has sent a horror World War 3 warning to the world, claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to use tactical nuclear weapons.

It came from Ukrainian military commander Roman Kostenko, who believes his country must increase its preparedness for the use of weapons of mass destruction.

Kostenko told Ukrainian news outlet Channel 24 that he believes that, if Russia feels like it is losing the war, it will resort to using nukes.

He believes that Russia can strike with tactical nuclear weapons with a capacity of several to dozens of kilotons.

The targets may be military bases, troop concentrations, infrastructure, decision-making centres, and large cities.

The military leader added that he has registered a bill proposing to separate the strategy of biological, chemical, and nuclear security into a separate segment.

He claimed this is necessary in order to maximise the level of readiness for the use of nuclear weapons as he believes the Russian threat is now at such a level.

He said: “This will be a separate strategy in our law on national security.”

It comes after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday announced “a new stage in the use of Ukrainian weapons to limit the potential of Russia’s war”.

The Ukraine Security Service (SBU) later clarified it had struck Transneft’s oil pumping and distribution facility in the city of Perm that day, from where oil was pumped to the Perm refinery and via pipeline in four directions across Russia.

The facility is “a strategically important hub of the main oil transportation system”, said the SBU, and preliminary information suggested that “almost all oil storage tanks are on fire”.

Ukraine’s latest campaign has begun to spark furious reactions from the Russian government.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the attacks on oil facilities “terrorist attacks”.

A Russian Defence Ministry announcement – that military cadets and a column of equipment would not take part in this year’s Victory Day parade commemorating the end of World War 2 “due to the current operational situation”