A prominent Russian legislator stated on Thursday that Ukrainian attacks on Russia utilizing Western missiles could escalate into a global conflict involving nuclear arms, asserting that Moscow’s retaliation would be severe and involve more advanced weaponry.

Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, warned that if the West sanctioned such strikes deep within Russian borders, it would result in a “global war with the use of nuclear weapons.”

Volodin, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin and a voice for Kremlin perspectives, emphasized that “Russia will respond decisively with more powerful weapons.” His comments followed a vote by the European Parliament supporting Ukraine’s ability to target Russian sites with Western military equipment.

He remarked that it seemed the West had overlooked the significant sacrifices made by the Soviet Union during World War II.

He said Europeans should understand that it would take just 3 minutes and 20 seconds for Russia’s RS-28 Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile, known to some as Satan II, to hit Strasbourg.

The war in Ukraine has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 – considered the closest the two Cold War superpowers came to intentional nuclear war.