Russian army will be ‘annihilated’ if Vladimir Putin nukes Ukraine, EU foreign policy chief warns
- Josep Borrell says the Russian leader ‘cannot afford’ to bluff, and that any such attack will bring a ‘powerful’ military answer from the West
- The remarks echo those from Nato, which says a nuclear strike, even on a small scale, would fundamentally change the nature of the conflict
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Moscow on Thursday its forces would be “annihilated” by the West’s military response if President Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
“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 neither,” Borrell said at the opening of a Diplomatic Academy in Belgium.
“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.”
Fears that Moscow could use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine have grown after Putin issued veiled threats as he staged the annexation of four occupied regions in the face of losses on the battlefield.
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Faces of fallen Russian soldiers on billboards in Moscow suburb as war scepticism grows
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned Russia of “severe consequences” if it launches a nuclear attack on its pro-Western neighbour.