The US and its NATO allies will destroy Russian forces and sink the Black Sea Fleet if Vladimir Putin decides to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, former CIA director David Petraeus has predicted.
The retired four-star general told ABC’s “This Week” in an interview Sunday what he thinks would happen if the Kremlin warmonger used a nuclear weapon.
“We will respond by leading a NATO – collective – effort that will eliminate every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea,” he said.
Petraeus said Russia’s use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would not trigger NATO’s Article 5, which calls for collective defense by member nations, because Ukraine is not part of the alliance.
But he said that if Putin used a nuclear weapon, the high probability that radiation from the strike would hit an alliance member could be interpreted as an attack on NATO and fall under Article 5.
An abandoned Russian armored personnel carrier marked Z in Kirilovka, in the recently recaptured area near Kharkiv. AFP via Getty Images Petraeus said during an interview on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “losing” the war. ABC News
“Maybe you can do this,” he said. “The other case is that it’s so horrific that there has to be an answer – it can’t go unanswered.”
Putin has made repeated veiled threats to use nuclear weapons, prompting national security adviser Jake Sullivan to warn Russia of “catastrophic consequences” last week.
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also said the Biden administration had made it “very clear” to Moscow that a nuclear strike would be followed by “horrific consequences.”
Putin, center, on Friday officially annexed four regions of Ukraine during a ceremony in the Kremlin. SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images A view shows a destroyed Russian armored personnel carrier in the liberated village of Kamyanka in Kharkiv region. Reuters
President Biden warned Putin in a speech after the annexation ceremony in the Kremlin that the US and its allies are “absolutely ready” to “defend every inch of NATO territory”.
Petraeus said the warmongering Kremlin was losing the war and now faced “irreversible” battlefield disaster despite “desperate” moves.
“No annexations, no even veiled nuclear threats, can get him out of this situation,” Petraeus said.
Petraeus also had some harsh words for Putin’s “shambolic” mobilization efforts, which have sparked protests in Russia and sent tens of thousands of military-age men fleeing across the border to avoid conscription.
“President Zelensky and Ukraine mobilized significantly better than Russia,” Petraeus said. “Ukraine has recruited, trained, equipped, organized and used force incomparably better than Russia.”
Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces liberated the strategically important city of Liman in the recently annexed Donetsk region and continued to make further gains in Kherson region, which Russia also now claims as its own.
Petraeus described Russia’s mobilization efforts as “shambolic.” AP
“He will continue to lose on the battlefield,” Petraeus said of Putin.
Asked if Russia could still win the war with Ukraine, Petraeus said: “They can’t. At this point (Putin) can’t do anything.
Petraeus predicted that the war would eventually end at the negotiating table, as Zelensky himself said, but the former CIA chief warned that “it could still get worse for Putin and for Russia. And even using tactical nukes on the battlefield won’t change that at all.
Still, he added, “You have to take the threat seriously.”
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