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Updated 4d ago
Joe Middleton, Martin Belam and Samantha LockThu 13 Oct 2022 18.53 BST
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From 4d ago
Russian forces will be ‘annihilated’ if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, says Borrell
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned Moscow today that its forces would be “annihilated” by the west’s military response if president Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine, AFP reports.
At the opening of the Diplomacy Academy in Brussels, Borrell said:
Putin is saying he is not bluffing. Well, he cannot afford bluffing, and it has to be clear that the people supporting Ukraine and the European Union and the member states, and the United States and Nato are not bluffing neither.
Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create an answer, not a nuclear answer but such a powerful answer from the military side that the Russian Army will be annihilated.
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg also said Russia faces “severe consequences” if it launches a nuclear assault on Ukraine.
However the alliance has stopped short of threatening to use its nuclear arsenal to respond as non-member Ukraine is not covered by its self-defence clause.
Updated at 18.25 BST
