Vladimir Putin will flood Britain under a nuclear tidal wave if NATO sends troops into Ukraine, a pal of the Russian president has claimed.

Russian propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov warned “everything” would be launched in response to the military alliance putting boots on the ground.

Kiselyov, speaking on Russian TV, said: “If NATO countries send their troops into Ukraine in order to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, then the very moment about which Putin once said, ‘Why do we need the world, if there is no Russia in it?’ would come. Then everything would be launched by us, in every direction – Sarmats, Yars, and Avangards.”

He added US centres of decision-making as well as “launchers” on land and at sea are already in Russia‘s sights.

Putin’s top media crony said: “France as a nuclear power will have to be disarmed instantly. The British Isles will simply go underwater.

“We have all the required technology for this… but it’s better not to let things get to that point.”

Kiselyov has bragged in the past that Russian deployment of a nuclear powered Poseidon torpedo would be unstoppable. He has said the explosion from the weapon would hit Britain with a radioactive tidal wave.

TASS reported in January 2023 that Russia had produced the first batch of Poseidon super torpedoes, though some have suggested reports of the weapon are no more than a propaganda exercise, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists.

Belarus’s president Alexander Lukashenko announced in December that Russia had relocated nuclear weapons to his country.

Poland’s leader said the NATO member would be ready to host the nuclear weapons of the military alliances’s other members in response to Russia’s move.

President Andrzej Duda said if there were a decision by allies to deploy nuclear weapons within Polish territory in order to strengthen the security of NATO’s eastern flank, then Poland was “ready”.

A Kremlin spokesperson said any deployment of US nuclear weapons in Poland would be met with steps necessary for Russia’s security.

Dmitry Peskov said the military would analyse the situation if such plans were to be implemented and take “all the necessary retaliatory steps” to guarantee Russia‘s safety.

Russia‘s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said joint NATO nuclear missions near the Russian border would be considered a security threat.

He said: “Any steps in this direction will not add to Poland’s security and relevant facilities will inevitably be a target.”