Moscow: As tensions with Ukraine and the West mount, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday (March 3) slammed the Western politicians for considering 'nuclear war’, assuring that Moscow has no such thought. 


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Speaking in an interview with state television, Lavrov said as per Reuters, “The thought of nuclear is constantly spinning in the heads of Western politicians but not in the heads of Russians.”


"I assure you that we will not allow any kind of provocation to unbalance us,” the minister added. 


Russian Foreign Minister had stoked fears on Wednesday after he warned that a third World War would be a “devastating nuclear war," state-owned TASS news agency reported.


Lavrov alleged today that some foreign leaders were “preparing for war against Russia”. He said that Moscow would press on with its military operation in Ukraine until "the end".


The Russian minister also accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of presiding over "a society where Nazism is flourishing", Reuters reported. 


Meanwhile, the second round of talks between Russia and Ukraine is likely to begin in Belarus at 1200 GMT, Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted chief Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky as saying. Russia`s invasion of Ukraine entered its second week today. 


The Russian forces laid siege to two strategic Ukrainian seaports on Wednesday and continued their bombardment of the country's second-biggest city. 


Mariupol city council said Russia was "constantly and deliberately" shelling critical civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian southern port, affecting water, power and evacuation. 


As per British military intelligence, Russia has made little progress in advancing on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and the cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol remain under Ukraine's control. 


(With agency inputs)