Former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus warned on Sunday that if Russian president Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons in the nation, the US and its allies would destroy Russia’s troops and equipment in Ukraine as well as sink its Black Sea fleet.
Petreaus said that he had not discussed the anticipated US response to a nuclear escalation from Russia with national security adviser Jake Sullivan, even though administration officials claim that this response has been frequently expressed to Moscow.
In response, he said, “We would lead a Nato-as-a-whole action that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea, as well as every ship.”
The alert comes days after Putin made comments that many people regarded as a threat to escalate relations between Russia and the west into a full-scale war.
When asked if the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in the Ukraine would include the United States and NATO in the conflict, Petreaus responded that such an event would not fall under the provisions of Article 5 of the alliance, which calls for a collective defence. Despite the fact that Ukraine is not a member of NATO, Petreaus claimed that a “US and NATO response” would be appropriate.
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Petreaus admitted that it may be possible to interpret the risk that radiation might reach NATO nations covered by Article 5 as an attack on a NATO member.
“Perhaps you can make that case,” he said. “The other case is that this is so horrific that there has to be a response – it cannot go unanswered.”
Yet, Petreaus added, “You don’t want to, again, get into a nuclear escalation here. But you have to show that this cannot be accepted in any way.”
Nonetheless, with pressure mounting on Putin after Ukrainian gains in the east of the country under last week’s annexation declaration and resistance to mobilization efforts within Russia mounting, Petreaus said Moscow’s leader was “desperate”.
“The battlefield reality he faces is, I think, irreversible,” he said. “No amount of shambolic mobilization, which is the only way to describe it; no amount of annexation; no amount of even veiled nuclear threats can actually get him out of this particular situation.
“At some point there’s going to have to be recognition of that. At some point there’s going to have to be some kind of beginning of negotiations, as [Ukrainian] President [Volodymyr] Zelensky has said, will be the ultimate end.”
But, Petreaus warned, “It can still get worse for Putin and for Russia. And even the use of tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield won’t change this at all.” Still, he added, “You have to take the threat seriously.”
According to CNN, Senator Marco Rubio, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Putin had two options: build defence lines or retreat and lose land.
Rubio asserted that he thought it “very likely” that Putin could target supply routes used by the US and its allies to reach Ukraine, including those located inside Poland. Although the senator accepted the nuclear threat, he stated that the main concern was “a Russian attack inside Nato territory, for example, aiming at the airport in Poland or some other distribution hub.”
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