Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday lowered the threshold for using nuclear weapons against a Western country, further escalating an already protracted war that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and shows no sign of ending.

Putin Announced During Meetings Russia's Security Council warned on Wednesday that the country's nuclear doctrine has been expanded to include the possibility of using nuclear weapons against any nuclear-weapon state if they support a non-nuclear country, such as Ukraine, in missile attacks on Russia. The warning was made under President Joe Biden's announcement The Russian government announced $8 billion in additional military aid to Ukraine on Thursday, and Western countries reported they were considering allowing Kiev to use long-range weapons to strike deep into Russian territory. (Related: Meta bans Russian media for 'foreign interference activities')

Ben Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that Putin was likely “bluffing,” but that it wasn't worth the risk for the United States to allow Ukraine to take such action.

“I think the likelihood that Russia would use nuclear weapons in response to such a hypothetical attack is pretty low. But how much do you want to bet on that? Do you want to bet that Putin is bluffing? I wouldn't bet too much,” Friedman told DCNF. “We should be very careful. The United States has no security interest in taking those risks in a conflict that could, in a worst-case scenario, escalate to nuclear war.”

According to multiple reports, Putin told a security council meeting that the review of nuclear strategy was due to “the emergence of new military threats and risks for Russia and its allies.”

“The latest version of the document proposes that any aggression against Russia by a non-nuclear weapon state with the participation or support of a nuclear weapon state should be considered a joint attack on the Russian Federation,” Putin told the Security Council on Wednesday, noting that the condition for a nuclear weapons launch would be based on “reliable information about the mass launch of aerospace offensive means and the crossing of our country's borders,” the Post reported.

“In the event of aggression against Russia and Belarus, we reserve the right to use nuclear weapons,” Putin said.

Moscow's threat to use nuclear weapons has been raised frequently as the United States and Europe continue to pledge support for Ukraine's defense against a Russian aggression that began in 2022 and shows no signs of stopping. Putin has particularly warned about the West's indirect involvement in the war, which has mainly taken the form of military aid to Ukraine.

More than $55 in the United States alone Billion Military aid to Ukraine after 2022 Committed About $46 billion over the same period.

However, military aid to Ukraine comes with certain rules and restrictions, particularly regarding how weapons can be used to attack Russia. For much of the war, Western countries banned Ukraine from using weapons to attack Russian soil, but this ban was recently lifted, allowing Ukrainian forces to launch attacks on Russia's border areas. (Related: President Trump considers plan to cut off aid to Ukraine unless Kiev agrees to peace talks with Moscow)

But Ukraine is seeking further permission from the West to use its weapons. Kiev says it should be allowed to use long-range missiles provided by the United States and Europe to strike targets deep inside Russian territory, a move the United States is wary of because it risks worsening relations with Moscow.

NEW YORK – September 25: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shakes hands with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. (Photo by Andrew Caballero Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)

However, many countries now Signaling European countries including Britain and France want to allow Ukraine to use long-range systems to attack Russia but want U.S. permission first, and some European partners have grown frustrated by delays in approval.

“It would be really good to stop the delays and I think the restrictions on the use of weapons should be lifted,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said. said Bloomberg on Monday.

The United States and Western countries have boosted Ukraine's military activities with massive financial support over the past two years, but have done little to change the course of the conflict. Ukraine is suffering serious manpower shortages as soldiers are killed fighting on the eastern front and has been forced to withdraw from areas along that front as Russian forces advance.

Russia has made small territorial gains on the eastern front at the cost of hundreds of thousands of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars, with parts of the Russian military now fighting back against Ukrainian forces who broke across the Russian border in August and advanced on Kursk. According to To Reuters.

According to undisclosed Ukrainian estimates, more than one million Russians and Ukrainians have been killed or wounded so far since the war began in 2022. Reviewed From the Wall Street Journal.

With only a few months left in its term, the Biden administration is starting to run out of options to help Ukraine and may resort to a possible remedy: allowing Kyiv to use long-range weapons, as long as they are provided by Europe and not the U.S. President Joe Biden and his team have faced criticism for failing to lay out an endgame strategy for the war or chart a path to a peace deal.

“Biden could certainly change course,” Friedman told DCNF, either by further strengthening defensive operations in Ukraine or by forcing Kiev and Moscow into peace talks, “but he is unlikely to do so because the White House seems set in stone.”

The State Department and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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