Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Russia will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Asked about the issue in an interview with India Today, Lavrov said: “Only conventional weapons.”

At the start of the war, Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be put on high alert, and a number of Russian government figures have signaled that the country would be willing to use them under certain circumstances.

Lavrov also says that with the Russian offensive now focused on eastern Ukraine, the war is entering a new phase, echoing similar comments from the Ukrainian military.

“Operation in eastern Ukraine aims, as it was initially announced, to completely liberate the [self-proclaimed] republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. “And this operation will continue,” he said, according to the BBC.

“Another phase of this operation is starting and I am sure that this will be a very important moment of this special operation.”