FOREIGN Office minister Gillian Keegan has described a threat by Russian President Vladimir Putin to use nuclear weapons in the conflict in Ukraine as a “worrying escalation”.

In a speech broadcast to the Russian people earlier this morning, Putin ordered a partial mobilisation of Russian reserves to join the conflict and reminded Western nations supporting Ukraine that Russia has modern weapons of destruction.

“I am not bluffing,” he said, accusing the West of engaging in “nuclear blackmail”.

Speaking to Kay Burley on Sky News, Ms Keegan - the MP for Chichester, said Putin’s speech was “concerning” and accused him of “re-writing history” after he claimed to trying to free occupied Ukrainian territory from “neo-Nazis”.

She said: “Let me be clear - these are Putin’s lies continuing to completely misrepresent what has happened in Ukraine.”

Ms Keegan said that the address had to be taken “seriously” but said that the West would be unwavering in its support of Ukraine.

In a message to Ukrainians, she said: “We’re there, we’re by your side - we will help as much as we can.”

Putin’s speech comes just a day after four regions of Ukraine at least partially occupied by Russian forces announced plans to hold referendums later this week on joining Russia.

Referendums in Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk are set to begin on Friday.

Western nations have already condemned plans to hold referenda in the occupied territories, with French President Emmanuel Macron describing the planned votes as a “parody”.

“If the Donbas referendum idea wasn’t so tragic, it would be funny,” he told reporters in New York.

In his speech, the Russian President threatened to employ all the means Russia has to defend “our people” in the Donbas region of Ukraine and would take “steps” to protect Russian sovereign territory.

He said: “I want to remind you that our country has various means of destruction, and for separate components and more modern than those of NATO countries, and when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal.”

The address, Putin’s first since the start of the war seven months ago, follows recent Ukrainian successes on the battlefield in the northeast of the country earlier this month.