World War 3 will be 'nuclear and destructive' warns Russia's foreign minister

Tass, the Russian state-run news organisation, has reported that the Russian foreign minister told Al Jazeera that "World War 3 will be a devastating nuclear war".

Sergei Lavrov threatened that a possible third World War will be "nuclear and destructive".

This comes amid claims from the Mr Lavrov that Ukraine has designs on acquiring nuclear weapons.

"Ukraine still has Soviet technologies and the means of delivery of such weapons," the foreign minister told a disarmament conference in Geneva on Tuesday.

"We cannot fail to respond to this real danger."

Diplomats walked out of the conference in which Mr Lavrov delivered these comments.

British, American and French diplomats were seen filing out of the conference room when the Russian foreign minister's message began to play.

It was expected that Mr Lavrov would appear at the UN Human Rights Council in person, but these plans were cancelled.

State-owned RIA news agency reported, citing a diplomatic source, that Mr Lavrov did not travel to the conference because doing so would have required him to travel through the EU's airspace, which is now closed to Russian planes due to sanctions placed on the Kremlin by the West.

Mr Lavrov said: "The military operation in Ukraine, including Kiev, is aimed at disarming Ukraine.

"Russia will not let Ukraine obtain nuclear weapons," Kremlin-backed TASS reported.