What would the United States do if Russia used nuclear weapons in Ukraine?
“
We would respond by leading a NATO effort that eliminates all Russian conventional forces that we can see
” on the Ukrainian battlefield as well as in annexed Crimea.
The warning does not come from a current US official but from an illustrious retiree: ex-four-star general and former CIA director David Petraeus.
“
All ships in the Black Sea
” would also be destroyed, he added on Sunday when interviewed by the ABC channel.
US and NATO response needed
This blunt analysis comes days after Vladimir Putin said that any strike on the new territories annexed by Russia would be considered an aggression.
If the nuclear threat was not explicitly brandished by the Russian president, it nevertheless hovers in the air.
Danger which cannot "
under any circumstances be accepted
", according to the former CIA leader, who nevertheless recalled that he was speaking on his behalf and had not discussed with the national security adviser Jake Sullivan of the potential American response to a nuclear escalation on the Russian side.
Even if the use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine is
a priori
not likely to bring NATO to war against the aggressor, Kiev not being part of the Alliance, a "
response from the United States and NATO
" would still be necessary, commented the former senior officer.
“This cannot remain unanswered”
David Petraeus acknowledged that the likelihood of nuclear radiation spreading to NATO countries could be interpreted as an attack on a member country, under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
This implies that an attack against a member of the Alliance is considered an attack directed against all allies.
"
We do not want to embark, once again, on a nuclear escalation
", he hammered, stressing nevertheless that such a threat could not "
remain unanswered
".
Read alsoFaced with Russian outbidding, Ukraine wants to join NATO
“
Vladimir Putin is desperate
,” explained David Petraeus.
"
The reality of the battlefield it faces is irreversible
", and no mobilization, "
no annexation, no nuclear threat, even veiled, can get it out of such a situation
".
The solution ?
“
There will have to be a start of negotiations, as Ukrainian President Zelensky said
,” he recommends.
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