Russia’s army would be “annihilated” by the West’s military response if president Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has warned.
The warning comes weeks after Putin attempted an illegal annexation of four Ukranian territories and warned Ukraine that nuclear weapons could be used to defend the annexes territories.
“Putin is saying he is not bluffing. Well, he cannot afford bluffing, and it has to be clear that the people supporting Ukraine and the European Union and the member states, and the United States and Nato are not bluffing either,” Borrell (pictured top left) said in Brussels on Thursday October 13 after a NATO meeting.
“Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian army will be annihilated.”
His warning also comes after Nato’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Russia a “very important line would be crossed” if it uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg on Thursday said he wouldn’t reveal the defence alliance’s likely response in such a situation but said there would be “severe consequences”.
The circumstances in which Nato might use nuclear weapons are “extremely remote”, he also told a news conference.
Ukraine’s allies from 50 countries have been meeting since Wednesday at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels for a summit that Kyiv called “historic”.
