Russian President Vladimir Putin swiped back on Thursday at U.S. President Donald Trump for calling Russia a “paper tiger”, suggesting NATO might be one and warning the United States that if it supplied Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine it would trigger a dangerous new escalation.

Russia’s war in Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest since World War Two, has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and Russian officials say they are now in a “hot” conflict with the West.

Trump targets Trump’s remark

Putin, speaking at the Valdai Discussion Group in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, said that Russian forces were advancing along the entire front in Ukraine and that almost all of the U.S.-led NATO alliance was now fighting against Russia.

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