Russian President Vladimir Putin warns of 'lightning-fast' retaliation if West interferes in ongoing Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned of lightning-fast retaliation if countries interfere in Ukraine, while US President Joe Biden was set to comment on Thursday in support of Ukraine's fight against "Russia's brutal war".

Russia has told the United States to stop sending arms to Ukraine, saying large Western deliveries of weapons were inflaming the conflict.

Addressing lawmakers in St Petersburg on Wednesday, Putin said the West wanted to cut Russia up into different pieces and accused it of pushing Ukraine into conflict with Russia.

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"If someone intends to intervene in the ongoing events from the outside, and create strategic threats for Russia that are unacceptable to us, they should know that our retaliatory strikes will be lightning-fast," said Putin, according to a video of his address supplied by Russian media.

"We have all the tools for this, things no one else can boast of having now. And we will not boast, we will use them if necessary. And I want everyone to know that."

Russia's invasion of Ukraine began on February 24 and has reduced towns and cities to rubble and forced more than 5 million people to flee abroad. Western countries have responded with sanctions and weapons for Ukraine to fight a war that has brought fears of wider conflict in the West, unthought-of for decades.

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Russia calls its intervention a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and the West say this is a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression by Putin.

Meanwhile, President Biden will deliver remarks on Thursday in support of "Ukrainians defending their country and their freedom against Russia`s brutal war", the White House said.