A Russian nuclear strike against Ukraine would trigger “such a powerful response” from the West that the Russian military would be “destroyed”, said Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief.
His comments come in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s statements.
After signing a partial mobilization decree, Putin warned NATO that his country had “various means of destruction” at its disposal to protect its “territorial integrity.”
“It’s not a bluff,” Putin said.
In Thursday’s statements, Borrell responded directly to the Russian leader’s threats.
“There is a nuclear threat and Putin says he is not bluffing. Well, he can’t afford to bluff,” Borrell said during an event of the European Diplomatic Academy in Bruges.
“It must be made clear that even the people who support Ukraine and the European Union and its member states as well as the United States and NATO are not bluffing.”
“And any nuclear attack against Ukraine will create a response — not a nuclear response, but a response so powerful from the military side — that the Russian military will be annihilated, and Putin doesn’t have to bluff,” he said.