In remarks published on Monday, Russia’s former president and Putin ally said that continuing to supply arms to Kiev risks a global nuclear catastrophe, reiterating his threat of nuclear war over Ukraine.

Dmitry Medvedev’s apocalyptic rhetoric has been interpreted as an attempt to deter the US-led NATO military alliance and Kyiv’s Western allies from becoming more involved in the year-old war that has dealt Moscow battlefield setbacks.

The latest comments by Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council, follow Putin’s nuclear warning last week and his Sunday remarks casting Moscow’s confrontation with the West as an existential battle for the survival of Russia and the Russian people.

“Of course, the pumping in of weapons can continue …. and prevent any possibility of reviving negotiations,” Medvedev said in remarks published in the daily Izvestia.

“Our enemies are doing just that, not wanting to understand that their goals will certainly lead to a total fiasco. Loss for everyone. A collapse. Apocalypse. Where you forget for centuries about your former life, until the rubble ceases to emit radiation.”