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Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine could spiral out of control and turn into a full-blown global conflict between Russia and the West, the NATO chief has warned.
In an interview, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Norwegian broadcaster NRK: “If things go wrong, they can go terribly wrong.”
‘It is a terrible war in Ukraine. It is also a war that can escalate into a full-blown war that escalates into a major war between NATO and Russia. We are working on it every day to avoid it.’
Stoltenberg, Norway’s former prime minister, said in the interview that “there is no doubt that a full-blown war is a possibility,” adding that it is important to avoid a conflict “involving more countries in Europe.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, pictured, warned in an interview that Putin’s war against Ukraine could spiral out of control and turn into a full-blown global conflict between Russia and the West.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused NATO allies of effectively becoming a party to the conflict by supplying Ukraine with weapons, training its troops and providing military intelligence to attack Russian forces.
In comments reflecting rising tensions between Russia and the West, President Vladimir Putin suggested that Moscow might consider using what he described as the US concept of a preemptive strike.
“Speaking of a disarming strike, maybe it’s worth thinking about adopting the ideas developed by our American counterparts, their ideas to ensure their security,” he said.
Stoltenberg said: ‘It’s a terrible war in the Ukraine. It is also a war that can turn into a full-blown war that turns into a big war between NATO and Russia.” Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers from the 68th brigade prepare a 120mm shell for firing in the Donetsk region today.
Long before the Ukraine war, the Kremlin expressed concern about US efforts to develop a so-called Global Prompt Strike capability that envisions attacking an adversary’s strategic targets with precision-guided conventional weapons anywhere in the world. In an hour.
Putin noted that such an attack could destroy the command facilities. “We’re just thinking about it, they weren’t shy about talking openly about it for the past few years,” he said, asserting that Moscow’s precision-guided cruise missiles outperform similar US weapons and that Russia has hypersonic weapons that the US doesn’t. has deployed. .
Putin also said he was disappointed with recent comments by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel that a 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine brokered by France and Germany had bought Ukraine time to prepare for a 2022 war.
“I assumed that other participants in the process were sincere with us, but it turned out that they were deceiving us,” he said.
In comments reflecting rising tensions between Russia and the West, President Vladimir Putin, pictured, suggested Moscow might consider using what he described as the US concept of a pre-emptive strike.
“It turned out that they wanted to fill Ukraine with weapons and prepare for hostilities.”
Putin argued that Ms Merkel’s statement showed that Russia was right to launch what he calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine.
“Maybe we should have started it earlier,” he said. He added that his comments further eroded Russia’s trust in the West, complicating any possible peace talks.
‘Eventually we will have to negotiate an agreement. But behind such statements there is an issue of trust. Trust is close to zero. I have repeatedly said that we are ready for an agreement, but it makes us think, think who we are dealing with.’
In separate comments via video link to the defense and security chiefs of several former Soviet nations, Putin again accused the West of using Ukraine as a tool against his country.
“For many years, the West shamelessly exploited and extracted its resources, fomented genocide and terror in Donbas and turned the country into a colony,” he said.
“Now it is cynically using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder, as a battering ram against Russia by continuing to supply Ukraine with arms and ammunition, sending mercenaries and pushing it towards suicide.”
Ukrainians say they are fighting for freedom against an unwanted invader and aggressor. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday and the two “agreed on the importance of pre-empting Russia’s insincere calls for a ceasefire,” Sunak’s office said.
“The prime minister added that the Kremlin needed to withdraw its forces before any deal could be considered.”
Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the Russians were pressing an offensive against Bakhmut with daily attacks, despite suffering heavy casualties. Pictured: An aerial view of Bakhmut, the site of the toughest battles with Russian troops in the Donetsk region.
Kyrylenko said: ‘The best way to describe those attacks is as cannon fodder. They rely mainly on infantry and less on armor, and are unable to advance.
Heavy fighting continued on Friday in eastern and southern Ukraine, mainly in regions Russia illegally annexed in September. Ukraine’s presidential office said five civilians were killed and 13 others wounded by Russian shelling in the past 24 hours.
Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the Russians were pressing an offensive against Bakhmut with daily attacks, despite suffering heavy casualties.
“You can best describe those attacks as cannon fodder,” Kyrylenko said. They rely mainly on infantry and less on armor, and are unable to advance.
In neighboring Lugansk in eastern Ukraine, regional governor Serhiy Haidai said the Ukrainian army was pushing its counteroffensive towards Kreminna and Svatove.
Firefighters have been working to extinguish the fire amid the rubble of a residential building destroyed in shelling during the conflict in Donetsk.
He expressed the hope that Ukraine can regain control of Kreminna by the end of the year and then, by the end of winter, retake areas in the region that have been captured by Russia since the war began.
In the south, Kherson regional governor Yaroslav Yanyshevych said eight civilians were injured by Russian shelling in the past 24 hours, and in the city of Kherson that Ukraine recaptured last month, a children’s hospital and a morgue were damaged. .
In the neighboring region of Zaporizhzhia, Russian forces shelled Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka, which lie across the Dnieper River from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Zaporizhzhia Governor Valentyn Reznichenko said Russian shelling damaged residential buildings and power lines. In the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said three civilians were injured by Russian shelling and one later died.