The US and its allies would destroy Russia’s troops and equipment in Ukraine – as well as sink its Black Sea fleet – if the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, uses nuclear weapons in the country, according to former CIA director and retired four-star army general David Petraeus.
He told ABC News: ‘Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a Nato – a collective – effort that would take out 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.’
His word came days after Putin expressed views that many have interpreted as a threat of a larger war between Russia and the west, Guardian reports.
Asked if the use of nuclear weapons by Russia in Ukraine would bring America and Nato into the war, Petraeus said that it would not be a situation triggering the alliance’s Article 5, which calls for a collective defense. That is because Ukraine is not part of Nato – nonetheless, a ‘US and Nato response’ would be in order, Petraeus said.
‘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.’
Petraeus also 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.’
