A close ally of President Vladimir Putin warned Western governments on Thursday that a nuclear war would ensue if they gave the green light for Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday ordered the country’s military to increase its number of troops by 180,000 to a total of 1.5 million, as Moscow’s military action in Ukraine drags on for more than two and a half years. The presidential decree, published on the official government website, will take effect on 1 December.

The Russian president earlier this year rebuffed Defense Ministry officials who had tried to convince him they needed more soldiers.