David Petraeus discusses what would happen if radiation from an atomic attack reaches NATO member countries
The Pentagon has been studying in detail in recent days a possible response from the United States if Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to use some type of nuclear weapon on Ukraine . Experts have made numerous conjectures about the possible reaction of the United States and its allies, but the Joe Biden administration has not yet revealed how his government would act in that hypothetical scenario. The one who has clearly expressed the US position has been the former director of the CIA, retired general David Petraeus.
As he explained in an interview with ABC News, the United States and its allies will destroy Russia’s troops and military equipment in Ukraine. Furthermore, they would sink Putin’s fleet in the Black Sea, the crown jewel of the Kremlin Navy.
Petraeus said he had not spoken to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan about the likely US response to Russia’s nuclear escalation, but he did qualify one thing: “We would respond by leading a collective NATO effort that would eliminate all conventional forces .” Russians that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and each of their ships in the Black Sea.
For the former US senior official, there is no doubt that “President Zelensky and Ukraine have mobilized much better than Russia.” In his opinion, “Ukraine has recruited, trained, equipped, organized and employed an incomparably better force than Russia . “
Asked by the interviewer if Russia can win the war, Petraeus replied: “They can’t. There is nothing he (Putin) can do at the moment.”
The warning comes days after Putin expressed views that many have interpreted as a threat of a full-blown war between Russia and the West. The Spanish Defense Minister herself, Margarita Robles, said today in an interview that “at this time there are no objective signs to say that she is going to use nuclear warheads” but she does not rule it out, and has warned that the Putin’s mental disturbances are evident.
When the former CIA director was asked if Russia’s use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would lead the United States and NATO to war, Petraeus responded by saying that it would not be a situation that would trigger Article 5 of the Atlantic Alliance. , which provides for collective defense in the event of an attack on one of its members. Ukraine is not part of NATO. However, he added, a “US and NATO response” would be needed.
Petraeus acknowledged however that the likelihood of radiation from a nuclear bomb spreading to NATO member countries could perhaps be interpreted as an attack on a NATO member.
The former CIA chief said Putin is “desperate . ” “I believe that the reality of the battlefield that he faces is irreversible ,” added the retired general. “Not a chaotic mobilization, which is the only way to describe it; neither more annexations nor more veiled nuclear threats can get it out of this particular situation”.
In May, the current director of the CIA, William Burns , said there was no evidence that Russia would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, although he warned that the Russian president is increasingly determined to win the war.
For his part, Senator Marco Rubio acknowledged in statements to CNN the possibility of a nuclear threat, but said that what worries him most is “a Russian attack within NATO territory, for example, targeting the Polish airport or some other distribution point. According to Rubio, the Russian president has two options: establish defensive lines or withdraw and lose territory.
