President Vladimir Putin’s veiled threats to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine have fueled huge increases in demand for iodine pills in Russia, the RBC news website reported Thursday.

Potassium iodide sales in Russian pharmacies have risen by 150% since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, RBC cited the pharmaceutical marketing agency DSM Group as

Russia's use of Iranian drones in Ukraine is "appalling," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday, adding that the United States and allies would seek to block such shipments.

Russia has used the drones to "kill Ukrainian civilians and destroy the infrastructure they rely on for electricity, for water, for heat. It's appalling,"

President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the war in Ukraine was part of Russia's wider struggle against Western domination, and warned that the world is probably entering the "most dangerous" decade since the end of World War II.

The Russian leader showed no sign of backpedaling on the eight-month-old invasion of Ukraine, and indeed painted the

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that a mission of the UN's atomic agency should inspect Ukraine's nuclear sites "as fast as possible", reiterating Moscow's claims Kyiv is preparing to use a "dirty bomb".

"They say the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wants to come and check Ukraine's nuclear facilities. We are in favour. And