Vladimir Putin praised Donald Trump on Thursday as an experienced and intelligent politician – and said he does not believe the U.S. president-elect is safe after two assassination attempts.

The Russian president signaled he was open to talks with the incoming commander-in-chief as he threatened to use ‘all means of destruction’ available if the West gives nuclear weapons to Ukraine.

The Kremlin strongman also tore into how Trump and his family had been treated by his critics and called attacks on him ‘revolting’.

And he accused President Joe Biden of helping to escalate the war sparked by Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine by sending long-range missiles to Kyiv to make life more difficult for his successor.

Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July when a rifle bullet fired by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks grazed his ear after he luckily turned his head to look at a chart during a campaign rally.

Then in September, another potential political assassin was nabbed after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle at one of Trump’s Florida golf courses.

Speaking to reporters in Kazakhstan in a wide-ranging statement, Putin said he had been shocked by the way the U.S. election campaign had unfolded.

Trump is in Mar-a-Lago celebrating Thanksgiving after announcing that he had secured a ‘border deal’ with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum – who then contradicted him just a few hours later.

Putin cited ‘the absolutely uncivilised methods used to battle against Trump, up to and including an assassination attempt – and more than once’.

‘By the way, in my opinion, he is not safe now,’ said Putin.

‘Unfortunately, in the history of the United States various incidents have happened. I think he (Trump) is intelligent and I hope he’s cautious and understands this.’

Putin, who is himself heavily protected, said he had been even more shocked though by how Trump’s family and children had been criticised by political opponents during the U.S. election campaign.

He called such behaviour ‘revolting’ and said in Russia not even ‘bandits’ would resort to such methods.

Talking about what he described as the Biden administration’s decision to escalate the war in Ukraine by allowing Kyiv to strike Russia with Western missiles, Putin speculated that it could be a ploy to either help Trump by giving him something to roll back or a way of making his life more difficult with Russia.

Either way, Putin said he thought Trump would ‘find the solution’ and said Moscow was ready for dialogue.

Putin also asked on Thursday: ‘If the country which we are essentially at war with now becomes a nuclear power, what do we do?’

It comes after the New York Times reported last week that a number of unidentified Western officials had suggested outgoing Biden could give Ukraine nuclear weapons before he leaves office.

Putin also said it was practically impossible for Ukraine to produce a nuclear weapon, but that it might be able to make some kind of ‘dirty bomb’, a conventional bomb laced with radioactive material in order to spread contamination.

In that case, Russia would respond appropriately, he said.

The Kremlin chief’s stark warning follows hours after Russian forces pounded Ukraine with dozens of missiles and drones overnight in an attempt to degrade the energy network as a bitter winter approaches.

Putin also announced that Russia’s production of advanced missile systems exceeds that of the NATO military alliance by 10 times, adding that Moscow plans to ramp up production yet further – adding fuel to the WW3 fire.

Russian attacks have not yet struck government buildings in the Ukrainian capital which is heavily protected by air defences.

But Putin claims Russia’s new ‘Oreshnik’ hypersonic missile, which it fired for the first time at the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last week in response to the first ATACMS and Storm Shadow strikes in Russia, is incapable of being intercepted.

The debris from the medium-range ballistic missile that was fired at Dnipro on November 21 is now being studied by Ukrainian investigators as it historically became the first time such a powerful weapon has been used in the war.

Ukraine said the weapon reached a top speed of more than 8,000mph as it headed towards Dnipro.