Putin says weapons aid makes NATO 'participant' in Ukraine conflict

President Vladimir Putin said arms supplies to Ukraine by NATO countries make the alliance a "participant" in the conflict, reiterating his allegations that the US and its allies are seeking to destroy Russia, reports Bloomberg.

In an interview on a weekly state TV program, Putin said the US-led West is attempting to break up his country, warning that the "Russian people" may not survive: "They have one goal: to disband the former Soviet Union and its fundamental part - the Russian Federation."

The US and its allies reject such a characterization, which the Kremlin has turned to as it tries to muster public support for the year-long invasion. Moscow has threatened direct retaliation against NATO if the alliance joins the fight, but so far has targeted only Ukrainian forces amid Western warnings of a massive response to any attack.

Putin said the West wanted to divide up Russia and then control the world's biggest producer of raw materials, a step, he said, that could well lead to the destruction of many of the peoples of Russia including the ethnic Russian majority, reports Reuters.

"I do not even know if such an ethnic group as the Russian people will be able to survive in the form in which it exists today," Putin said. He said the West's plans had been put to paper, though did not specify where.

The United States has denied that it wants to destroy Russia, while President Joe Biden has warned that a conflict between Russia and NATO could trigger World War Three, though he has also said Putin should not remain in power.

Putin said the tens of billions of dollars' worth of U.S. and European military assistance to Ukraine showed that Russia was now facing off NATO itself - the Cold War nightmare of both Soviet and Western leaders.

Ukraine says it will not rest until every last Russian soldier is ejected from Ukraine, including from Crimea which Russia annexed in 2014.