The United States warned Russia that there would be catastrophic consequences if Moscow uses nuclear weapons after setbacks in its war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin called for mass destruction of weapons as he escalated the conflict last week by calling up military reservists and moving to annex occupied areas that are staging votes to join Russia.
Two top U.S. officials said yesterday that Washington has made it clear to Moscow how much a reaction the Kremlin would face in the event of a nuclear attack, despite the fact that his mobilization effort is facing domestic backlash and Kyiv's forces pressing to make new gains after their stunning counteroffensive.
Jake Sullivan, national security adviser, told NBC News that if Russia went down the dark road of nuclear weapons, the consequences would be catastrophic. Sullivan would say, In private channels, we have spelled out in greater detail what that would mean, despite being sounded by host Chuck Todd about what those countermeasures would be. Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the same language in an interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes. It's very important that Moscow hears from us and know from us that the consequences would be horrific, and we've made that very clear, Blinken said, adding that the U.S. response would be catastrophic without elaborating.
Putin has made a series of nuclear threats against the West as well as Ukraine since he launched his invasion just over seven months ago. He signalled last week that he was willing to escalate rather than accept battlefield defeat, as he increased Russia's efforts.
Putin said in an address to the nation last Wednesday that if Russia's territorial integrity is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to retaliate — adding that it is not a bluff. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes in the Russian president.
Zelenskyy told CBS' Face the Nation that he doesn't think he is bluffing. He wants to scare the whole world. These are the first steps of his nuclear war. Russia has the world's largest nuclear arsenal with more than 6,000 nuclear warheads and 1,500 of them currently deployed, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, an independent think tank that tracks global stockpiles.
The Kremlin's thinly veiled threats come against the backdrop of votes being held in four regions of Ukraine's south and east that its forces at least partially control: Luhansk and Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Western officials have dismissed these as sham votes with predetermined outcomes.
Putin warned against a litany of setbacks for the Kremlin.
The looming annexation and nuclear threats have been viewed by analysts as a combination of effort to deter Western support for Ukraine and stem the tide of a pair of counter-offensives that have left Russia's long-term grip on those occupied territories in growing doubt.
Asked if Moscow would consider using nuclear weapons to defend these regions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday that they would be under the full protection of the state. Two months into the invasion, Putin's army withdrew from a costly and ultimately failed attack toward the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, instead choosing to focus its forces on the east of the country where it has supported pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
In recent weeks Ukraine has also mounted a strong fightback in those areas, which has resulted in heavy Russian losses and rare domestic disquiet from pro-war nationalists.
There have been thousands of Russian civilians rounded up to be sent to the front lines. It has also triggered an exodus of Russians trying to escape the draft, clogging border crossings and snapping up available flights.