A WEEK ago the prospect of nuclear war was a dim memory. Now, Russian President Vladmir Putin has put the nightmare firmly back on the agenda in a thinly veiled threat to the west to “back off” over Ukraine.

This morning, Prime Minister Tony Abbott labelled Russia’s escalating and “open” invasion into Ukraine as “war”.

But he was not only person using fighting words. At a youth forum on Friday, Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threat was simple.

“I want to remind you that Russia is one of the most powerful nuclear nations. This is a reality, not just words.”

It’s the first time in more than 25 years that Moscow has raised the spectre of nuclear war. The difference this time is that its tanks are already pouring over its western borders.

“A great war arrived at our doorstep, the likes of which Europe has not seen since World War II,” Ukraine’s Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey wrote on Facebook overnight, warning of “tens of thousands of deaths”.

Putin appears to agree.

Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports Putin has told the outgoing European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso: “If I want, I take Kiev in two weeks.”

NATO is taking the war of words seriously: This week it will discuss the creation of a “rapid response” military force tasked with being ready to instantly respond to any invasion of any member state.

Referring to eastern Ukraine as “New Russia”, Putin’s pointed remarks sent a clear message to a hesitant NATO and United States: Back off.

“We must always be ready to repel any aggression against Russia and (opponents) should be aware … it is better not to come against Russia as regards a possible armed conflict.”

Mr Putin said he did not want to engage in any large-scale conflicts. “We do not want it and aren’t going to do it,” Putin reportedly said.

Itar-Tass, however, quoted him as adding Russia was “strengthening our nuclear deterrence forces and our armed forces”.

Recent estimates give Russia a total of 1800 operational nuclear weapons with a further 7000 warheads stockpiled.

Overnight, European Commission President Barroso, in a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko yesterday, was unusually blunt in expressing his fears.

“We may see a situation where we reach the point of no return,” Barroso said. “If the escalation of the conflict continues, this point of no return can come.”

‘GREAT WAR’ WARNING

Prime Minister Abbott, who yesterday announced increased sanctions against Russia, this morning slammed the country’s “bullying behaviour”.

When asked on 2GB Radio whether the conflict amounts to war, Mr Abbott said there are “large numbers” of troops involved.

“There is artillery fire, there are tank movements, there are air strikes. Yes it’s a war.”

Mr Abbott declared the actions of Russia as “utterly reprehensible”.

“Russia has been playing its nasty games in Eastern Ukraine for months now,” he said.

“In the last few days they’ve come out into the open.

“They are now openly violating the sovereignty of Ukraine. They have their own troops and heavy weaponry in Ukraine.

“It is an invasion, let’s call it what it is.”

Bill Shorten told his Caucus colleagues that “Australians would not welcome Putin here” for the G20 to be held in Brisbane.

Earlier this morning, the Opposition Leader made clear he did not wish to meet with the Russian President if he was to come in November.

“I don’t want to meet Putin,” he told reporters.

“I’ve got no time for what he’s done.”

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will use her visit to a NATO summit in Wales later this week to lobby other countries to block Mr Putin from visiting Australia for the gathering.

Russia’s military has all but abandoned its pretence of not being directly involved in fighting in Ukraine between nationalist and pro-Russian rebels.

A major Ukrainian airport has fallen to Russian tanks, trucks and armoured vehicles which have been observed crossing its borders from Russia by western media. Pictures have been flooding social media claiming to show tanks and vehicles bearing Russian insignia.

Loyalist Ukrainian forces are now urgently digging in around cities along its Baltic coast as Russia appears determined to seize a “land bridge” between its territory and the already captured Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea.

The United States there are 1000 Russians soldiers currently fighting in Ukraine. British sources say up to 5000. AFP reports a Russian mother’s lobby group as estimating up to 15,000 of their sons and husbands have “gone incommunicado” while on military exercises near Ukraine in the past two months.

The Russian regime is responsible for the war in Europe, for killing our people, for stealing Crimea, for tormenting millions of Ukrainians. — Arseniy Yatsenyuk (@Yatsenyuk_AP) September 1, 2014

The death of about 200 Russian troops — and their funerals back on Russian soil — has been yet another sign of the game of denial being employed by Moscow.

It’s a game that has cost Russia all credibility.

The White House at the weekend the reality was that Russian troops were inside Ukraine and fighting Ukrainian military forces.

NATO DEFENCE PLAN

NATO Secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen has unveiled a Readiness Action Plan ahead of a meeting in Wales this week, which involves a rapid-reaction force consisting of several thousand soldiers to help member states facing any sudden invasion.

“The Readiness Action Plan will ensure that we have the right forces and the right equipment in the right place, at the right time,” Rasmussen said. “Not because NATO wants to attack anyone. But because the dangers and the threats are more present and more visible. And we will do what it takes to defend our allies.”

The proposal will be put before a high ranking meeting of NATO members this week.

The unit, which includes combat aircraft and naval warships, will be made up of all 28 NATO member nation militaries. These units would cycle in and out of the rapid-reaction force to maintain a high degree of readiness and stockpiles of weapons pre-positioned for fast access.

It is intended the force be capable of deploying on 48-hours notice. It is due to be formed by the end of the year.

Rasmussen said the force was intended to “travel light, but strike hard if needed”.

“Not because Nato wants to attack anyone. But because the dangers and the threats are more present and more visible. And we will do what it takes to defend our allies.”

UKRAINE IN RETREAT

“Despite Moscow’s hollow denials, it is now clear that Russian troops and equipment have illegally crossed the border into eastern and south-eastern Ukraine,” NATO Secretary General Anders Rasmussen has said. “This is not an isolated action but part of a dangerous pattern over many months to destabilise Ukraine as a sovereign nation.”

After months of steady advances, Kiev now finds itself in retreat on two fronts along its eastern border with Russia: The southeast region of Donetsk and along its southern coast centred on the city of Novoazovsk.

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Valeriy Geletey vowed last night to “immediately mount defences against Russia, which is trying not only to secure positions held by terrorists before but to advance on other territories of Ukraine”.

The situation in the East of Ukraine substantially deteriorated. Russia has sent a number of armored personnel vehicles, tanks, and troops. — Arseniy Yatsenyuk (@Yatsenyuk_AP) August 28, 2014

Ukraine this morning said its forces south of the rebel hub of Lugansk had been forced to retreat from a local strategic airfield and a nearby village after being attacked by artillery fire and battling a Russian tank battalion.

The retreat marked the latest setback for Ukrainian troops, which had been closing in on rebels in Donetsk and Lugansk until about a week ago.

Since then, the rebels’ lightning offensive has forced Ukrainian army units to abandon numerous positions and gear up to defend the important south-eastern port city of Mariupol.

Eight border guards rescued, two missing after shelling in Sea of Azov #Ukraine http://t.co/cOskTjuin9 pic.twitter.com/i2RgLoCqpk — Kyiv Post (@KyivPost) September 1, 2014

On the Azov Sea coast, where the Kiev government still controls the 500,000-strong city, rocket launchers were used to fire on two Ukrainian patrol boats offshore. Two border guards from one of the crews went missing, Kiev said.

Up to 100 paratroopers in the north-western town of Pskov have also reportedly been killed, Kiev says.

Yesterday, two Ukrainian patrol vessels were attacked and set afire while at sea.

But Defence Minister Geletey said Russia had already “paid dearly for the invasion”.

“Ukraine’s black earth has become the final resting place for hundreds of Russian soldiers and officers,” he said on Facebook.

PLACE OF DEATH ‘UNKNOWN’

Lyudmila Bogatenkova, head of Russia’s Soldiers’ Mothers in the southern Stavropol region, said a hospital in Rostov, close to the Ukrainian border, was overflowing with wounded soldiers.

“Cargo-200 is coming from the Rostov range,” she added, referring to the Russian military code for body bags. “A large number of people are dying.”

Russia’s justice ministry last week labelled Soldiers’ Mothers of Saint Petersburg a “foreign agent”, a term thick with connotations of Cold War espionage.

BREAKING 3 fighters fr btln "#Donbas" on break out fr #Ilvoaisk kettles destroyed 2 #Russian army tanks 2 DMBs. 2/2 pic.twitter.com/SEj74fHPdy — lennutrajektoor (@lennutrajektoor) September 1, 2014

Rights groups say that while papers accompanying dead bodies specify gunshot or shrapnel wounds as a cause of death they don’t say where they were sustained.

“These documents are astonishing. Instead of the place of death there is a blank space,” Polyakova said. “We saw a similar picture in Chechnya.”

Russian rights groups say a pattern appears to be emerging: troops are sent on drills close to the border where they are told to change clothes and paint over identification numbers on their tanks before they are deployed to Ukraine.

RUSSIAN VASSAL-STATE

The developments come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin evoked for the first time that the issue of “statehood” should be brought up in talks on the crisis in the east, where fighting has killed over 2600 people since mid-April.

He has reiterated his intention to “save” the Russian-speaking population in Ukraine.

Putin accused Europe of ignoring the Ukrainian military’s “direct targeting” of civilians in the conflict and said the offensive pushed by insurgents there were simply an attempt to expel Kiev’s forces from residential areas.

“When Kiev said that negotiations would begin only after the surrender of those whom they call ‘separatists,’ the militia are left with no choice but to defend their homes, their families,” a Russian foreign ministry statement said.

When pressed by the BBC over recent rebel advances, Putin replied: “They are triggered by the fact that Ukrainian troops are laying siege to civilian areas and are shooting directly at residential areas. This is what many states, including in Europe, unfortunately prefer not to notice.”

CRISIS TALKS

United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee head Robert Menendez along with prominent Republicans Senator John McCain and Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, have overnight called for official support for Ukraine.

Senator Menendez told CNN that the Ukrainian government forces must be given defensive weapons capable of opposing the modern Russian armour now inside their territory.

The sense of foreboding in Kiev came as European-mediated talks over the fast-escalating crisis opened overnight in the Belarussian capital Minsk behind closed doors, attended by government, separatist and Russian envoys.

The rebels have launched a major counteroffensive in recent days that the Ukrainian government and its Western allies claim is backed by Russian forces — a charge Moscow still denies.

Russian agencies quoted rebel representatives demanding at the Belarus meeting that Kiev provides the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk with a “unique procedure” that would let them integrate closer with Russia.

#Merkel: Since the beginning this hasn’t been a conflict within Ukraine, but a confrontation between #Russia+#Ukraine (2) MT @RegSprecher — GermanForeignOffice (@GermanyDiplo) September 1, 2014

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said ahead of the Western military alliance’s two-day summit in Wales that opens on Thursday that the growing Russian threat meant the Cold War-era bloc must create a bigger presence in eastern Europe.

“We must face the reality that Russia ... considers NATO an adversary,” he told reporters. “We cannot afford to be naive.”

Aggression och invasion - och faktiskt också krig. http://t.co/bPmOMbERDs — Carl Bildt (@CBildt) September 1, 2014

Even now, Russia continues to deny helping the insurgency, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declaring overnight that “there will be no military intervention (in Ukraine)”.

This is despite the recent funerals of up to 200 Russian soldiers killed in combat in the beleaguered Baltic state.

Lavrov called for an “immediate and unconditional ceasefire” to be discussed in Minsk.

The European Union warned Moscow on Sunday that it would slap it with fresh sanctions unless it reversed course in the crisis within a week.

Putin responded yesterday by saying that he hoped “common sense will prevail” and urged the bloc to “work together normally” with Moscow.