United States National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. would respond decisively to any Russian use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine.
Sullivan said the United States has spelled out to Moscow the “catastrophic consequences” it would face.
His remarks represented the latest American warning following the thinly veiled nuclear threat made by Vladimir Putin last Wednesday in a speech in which the Russian president also announced his country’s first wartime military mobilization since World War Two.
Sullivan told NBC’s meet the press program that “if Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia. The United States will respond decisively.
Sullivan did not describe the nature of the planned U.S. response in his comments on Sunday but said the United States has privately to Moscow “spelled out in greater detail exactly what that would mean.
According to him, the United States has been in frequent, direct contact with Russia, including during the last few days to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Putin’s actions and threats.
U.S. President Joe Biden in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday accused Putin of making “overt nuclear threats against Europe” in reckless disregard for nuclear nonproliferation responsibilities.
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Russia also was staging a referendum in four eastern Ukrainian regions with the goal of annexing territory that Russian forces have taken during their invasion of Ukraine launched in February.
Ukraine and its allies have called the referendums a sham designed to justify an escalation of the war and Putin’s mobilization drive after recent battlefield losses.
Experts said by incorporating the areas of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia into Russia, Moscow could portray attacks to retake them as an attack on Russia itself, a warning to Ukraine and its Western allies.
However, after suffering setbacks on the battlefield, Putin was mobilizing 300,000 troops while also threatening to use “all available means” to protect Russia.
“This is not a bluff,” Putin said in the remarks viewed on the world stage as a threat to the potential use of nuclear weapons.
Sullivan added that “Putin remains intent on wiping out the Ukraine people that he does not believe have a right to exist.
“So he’s going to keep coming and we have to keep coming with weapons, ammunition, intelligence, and all the support we can provide.”
