We’re not mad, says Putin

President Vladimir Putin insisted yesterday that he had not lost his mind as he warned of the growing threat of nuclear war and accused Poland of seeking to seize western Ukraine.

In televised remarks Putin said that he and other senior Russian officials understood very well the power of nuclear weapons.

‘‘We have not gone mad,’’ he said, adding that Moscow would only deploy its nuclear arsenal, the largest in the world, in the event of a nuclear attack on Russia. He warned, however, that the Kremlin would defend its territory and its allies with ‘‘all available means’’.

Putin vowed in September that Russia would use nuclear weapons to defend four

Ukrainian regions that it claims as its own. He later appeared to backtrack on the comments, however.

In often rambling comments to the Kremlin’s Human Rights Council, Putin also claimed that ‘‘nationalist groups’’ in Poland were plotting to annex areas of western Ukraine. Kremlin propaganda has voiced similar allegations in recent weeks against Poland but this is the first time that Putin has made the claim. Russia has not provided evidence to back up its accusation.

Putin gave no indication that Russia intends to wind down its invasion of Ukraine.

‘‘As for the duration of the special military operation, well, of course, this can be a lengthy process,’’ Putin said, using the official term for the war. He said that he saw ‘‘no sense,’’ however, in a new round of mobilisation.

He said that of 300,000 reservists called up after the Kremlin announced a nationwide draft in September, 77,000 ‘‘defenders of the fatherland’’ were now involved in combat operations.

Russia’s Human Rights Council was recently purged of Kremlin critics and its members were told to avoid ‘‘inconvenient’’ questions about the war before the meeting with Putin.

Putin’s comments came as Washington sought to avert an escalation in the almost tenmonth conflict after suspected Ukrainian drone strikes hit military facilities deep inside Russia. Three Russian soldiers were killed and two long-range bombers damaged this week by suspected Ukrainian drones, including an attack on the Engels airfield near Saratov, almost 650km inside Russia. Explosions also tore through military facilities in Ryazan, about 200km south of Moscow, and Kursk, 100km from the Ukrainian border. Russia has used the airfields to launch bombing raids on Ukraine. Kyiv never officially acknowledges military operations inside Russia

The United States said it had nothing to do with the attacks. ‘‘We have neither encouraged nor enabled the Ukrainians to strike inside of Russia,’’ Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said. He did not criticise the strikes, however.

The British defence ministry said the Kremlin would be likely to consider the attacks among Russia’s ‘‘most strategically significant failures’’ since the start of the war. ‘‘Psychologically I think it strikes a blow,’’ a western official said.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said 31 of his country’s embassies had received dozens of suspicious packages that were apparently sent from a Tesla car dealership in Sindelfingen, in Germany.

Tesla has not commented on Kuleba’s remarks.