A senior ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin says Russia is not bluffing about using tactical nuclear weapons against Ukraine and warned that the conflict could spill over into other countries.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, made the comments after President Biden quietly authorized Kyiv to launch U.S.-supplied weapons at military targets just over the border in Russia that are supporting an offensive against the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

“This is, alas, neither intimidation nor bluffing,” Medvedev said Friday, speaking on the potential to use strategic nuclear weapons, per Reuters.

UKRAINE SEEKS TO STRIKE RUSSIAN TARGETS WITH WESTERN WEAPONS, ZELENSKYY SAYS

Russia has been using staging locations just across the border to enable its attacks against Ukraine and Biden has given Ukraine the go-ahead to use American weaponry to hit back at Russian forces hitting them or preparing to hit them. Germany has also backed the move.

The White House says the policy is limited and prohibits the use of army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) or long-range strikes inside Russia. 

In March, the U.S. quietly delivered long-range ATACMS to Ukraine for the first time – which the Ukrainians have since deployed against Russian military forces inside Ukraine.

Medvedev said Friday that “Russia regards all long-range weapons used by Ukraine as already being directly controlled by servicemen from NATO countries.”

“This is no military assistance, this is participation in a war against us. And such actions could well become a casus belli (an act that provokes a war),” Medvedev said Friday, per Reuters. 

Medvedev, who served as Russian president from 2008 and 2012, said that the West’s ongoing support of Ukraine could lead to an escalation of the 27-month-old full-scale invasion.

“The current military conflict with the West is developing according to the worst possible scenario. There is a constant escalation when it comes to the firepower of NATO weapons being used. Therefore, nobody today can rule out the conflict’s transition to its final stage,” Medvedev said.

KYIV’S FORCES ARE UP AGAINST A CONCERTED RUSSIAN PUSH IN EASTERN UKRAINE, A MILITARY OFFICIAL SAYS

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of the Security Council of Russia, speaks during an interview with Russian media at a residence outside Moscow, Russia, on March 23, 2023. (Sputnik/Yekaterina Shtukina/Pool via REUTERS)

The comments come as depleted Ukrainian troops are losing ground in the war – and just weeks after the U.S. agreed to send an extra $60 billion in aid to the war-torn country. In the border region of Kharkiv, Ukraine has endured a Russian onslaught this month that has stretched Kyiv’s outgunned and outmanned forces.

The White House says that Russia’s forward progress has stalled and that Russia will not be able to capture Kharkiv. 

Russia has only moved forward by a few kilometers and its forces are under relentless barrage by the Ukrainians and suffering at an extraordinary cost, the White House tells Fox News. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that it’s only a matter of time before Ukraine utilizes the Western weaponry to strike Russian territory.

The developments and threats of escalation came just weeks after Gen. Charles Brown, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said NATO military trainers will eventually be sent to Ukraine, according to a report in the New York Times.

Ukrainian officials have asked their U.S. and NATO counterparts to help train 150,000 new recruits closer to the front line for faster deployment, per the report. 

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., told Fox News Digital at the time that deploying military trainers would lead to a wider war in the region.

Friday’s comments by Medvedev are not the first time he has taken a hardline stance against the West. In January, he warned the U.K. that putting boots on the ground in Ukraine would amount to a declaration of war against Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, greets Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, prior to their meeting in Kyiv on May 14, 2024. (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)

In January, he also raised the prospect of nuclear war, warning NATO allies that a defeat for Russia in Ukraine could provoke a nuclear war. 

“The loss of a nuclear power in a conventional war can provoke the beginning of a nuclear war,” he said in a Telegram post.

“Nuclear powers have [never] lost major conflicts on which their fate depends,” the Kremlin official added. 

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin, as well as Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Tomasdottir wins 34.6 percent of the votes to become the Nordic country’s second female president.

Halla Tomasdottir, a businesswoman and investor, has won Iceland’s presidential election, topping a crowded field of candidates in which the top three finishers were women, the country’s national broadcast service reports.

Tomasdottir, 55, was elected to the largely ceremonial post with 34.3 percent of the vote, defeating former Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, with 25.2 percent, and Halla Hrund Logadottir, with 15.5 percent, RUV said on Sunday.

Tomasdottir is currently on leave as chief executive of The B Team, a global nonprofit co-founded by UK business tycoon Richard Branson to promote business practices focused on humanity and the climate, and has offices in New York and London.

Iceland’s president holds a largely ceremonial position in the parliamentary republic, acting as a guarantor of the constitution and national unity. He or she, however, has the power to veto a legislation or submit it to a referendum.

Tomasdottir campaigned as someone who was above party politics and could help open discussions on fundamental issues such as the effect of social media on the mental health of young people, Iceland’s development as a tourist destination and the role of artificial intelligence.

She will replace President Gudni Th Johannesson, who did not seek re-election after two four-year terms. Tomasdottir will take office on August 1.

Iceland’s second woman president

Iceland, a Nordic island nation located in the North Atlantic, has a long tradition of electing women to high office.

Vigdis Finnbogadottir was the first democratically elected female president of any nation when she became Iceland’s head of state in 1980.

The country has also seen two women serve as prime minister in recent years, providing stability during years of political turmoil.

Johanna Sigurdardottir led the government from 2009 to 2013, after the global financial crisis ravaged Iceland’s economy.

Jakobsdottir, 48, became prime minister in 2017, leading a broad coalition that ended the cycle of crises that had triggered three elections in four years. She resigned in April to run for president.

In the country of 380,000 people, any citizen gathering 1,500 signatures can run for office.

While Jakobsdottir was at times seen as the favourite, political observers had suggested that her background as prime minister could weigh against her.

Among the other main candidates in the field of 13 were a political science professor, a comedian, and an Arctic and energy scholar.

ABBA fans had not necessarily expected to see the group together again after previous statements that they had no further plans to reunite after recording a 2021 comeback album. But the prospect of being knighted brought all four members back together again Friday in their native Sweden, as they showed up at the royal palace in Stockholm to be honored by the king and queen.

Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Benny Andersson (pictured above, left to right) were receiving the Royal Order of Vasa, establishing them as Commanders of the First Class, for “very outstanding efforts in Swedish and international music life.”

The knighthoods for the quartet followed by four days Andersson and Ulvaeus appearing at the ABBA Arena in London Thursday to celebrate the second anniversary of “ABBA Voyage,” the avatar show that has been successfully playing at the custom-built venue. Andersson and Ulvaeus did a Q&A for the audience of approximately 3,000 at the London event, at which Lyngstad and Faltskog did not appear.

The particular knighthood that the four members were being honored with in Stockholm had been dormant for a half-century, until the granting of knighthoods to ordinary Swedish citizens was revived in 2022. ABBA’s members were among a crop of 13 being celebrated on Friday, the first to receive it since the process was reopened two years ago. Candidates were nominated by both the general public and the Swedish government. The ultimate honorees were selected by King Carl XVI Gustaf, who handed out the knighthoods to ABBA on Friday alongside queen Silvia. Others being knighted along with the pop group included two physicists who were 2023 winners of the Nobel Prize.

At the London Q&A celebrating the two-year anniversary of the so-called ABBA-tar show, with Pete Paphides asking the questions, Andersson and Ulvaeus did not say much about future plans, although they did respond enthusiastically to the idea of their avatars taking a break from their permanent home there to perform at Glastonbury. “Oh yes, I think that’s a brilliant idea,” said Ulvaeus. Andersson added that he might tag along if that ever happened, saying, “If they go to Glastonbury, I think we’d need an extra piano player.”

In reality, there don’t appear to be any fresh prospects for IRL ABBA reunions, following their Grammy-nominated “Voyage” reunion album three years ago. In a 2022 interview with Variety, Andersson was firm about the last chapter of ABBA’s career together being closed. “It’s never say never, but it’s a no. Nothing is going to happen after this,” he said then. “Yes, [the ‘Voyage’ album] did well. But no.”

At this week’s London Q&A, the songwriting team seemed chipper and wistful, in a primarily reminiscing mode.

“It’s very, very hard to grasp emotionally that we wrote these little songs and it gave rise to this, and the millions of people we have touched,” Andersson said, in front of an audience that included celebrities like Rick Astley and Joanna Lumley. “We know it’s true, but it’s very hard to understand. Maybe impossible.”

“I’ve seen the show so many times and I think we look good up there,” added Ulvaeus. “But I have no idea what it really is that makes people have it in them to want to listen to music that was done 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 30 years ago.”

Although it did not arise as a topic of discussion at the London event, there has been talk back in the U.S. of a third “Mamma Mia!” film based on the group’s catalog, although it is not on the fast track. Producer Judy Craymer told Variety in October that it was inevitable. “I’m in the privileged position that I have Universal Studios wanting to do it, who I love working with, and I have a storyline,” she said, as part of talk about a talent competition show inspired by the original theatrical production. “It just always takes a certain amount of time with ‘Mamma Mia.’ Bjorn and Benny always take a certain amount of convincing. I don’t know how much more convincing they’re gonna have because everybody wants another film. But they had ABBA Voyage and then they wanted a rest from ABBA stuff. But it will happen.”