• Petraeus said the US and its NATO allies would destroy Russian forces and sink the Black Sea fleet.
• Russia’s use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would not make NATO’s Article 5.
• But there was a good chance that radiation from a strike would hurt a member of the alliance.

David Petraeus, a former head of the CIA, has said that if Vladimir Putin used nuclear weapons in Ukraine, the US and its NATO allies would destroy Russian forces and sink the Black Sea fleet.

In an interview with media  “This Week” on Sunday, the retired four-star general explained what he thought would happen if the Kremlin’s warmonger used nuclear weapons.

“We would respond by leading a NATO-wide effort to destroy every Russian conventional force we could see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea, as well as every ship in the Black Sea,” he said.

Petraeus said that Russia’s use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine would not make NATO’s Article 5, which calls for the defence of all member states, go into effect because Ukraine is not a member of the alliance.

But he said that if Putin used nuclear weapons, there was a good chance that radiation from the strike would hurt a member of the alliance. This could be seen as an attack on NATO and be covered by Article 5.

Putin has repeatedly hinted that he might use nuclear weapons. Last week, national security adviser Jake Sullivan told Russia that doing so would have “catastrophic consequences.”

Antony Blinken, who is Secretary of State, said that the Biden administration has made it “very clear” to Moscow that a nuclear strike would have “horrific consequences.”

In a speech after the annexation ceremony in the Kremlin, President Biden told Putin that the US and its allies were “ready to defend every inch of NATO territory.”

Petreaus said that despite “desperate” moves, the Kremlin warmonger is losing the war and faces a “irreversible” disaster on the battlefield.

Petraeus said, “Nothing, not even veiled nuclear threats, will get him out of this situation.”

Putin’s efforts to get people to join the military have been called “shambolic” by Petraeus. These efforts have led to protests in Russia and sent tens of thousands of men of military age running across the border to avoid being drafted.

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