NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this was "dangerous and irresponsible rhetoric" from Vladimir Putin.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's order to put Russian nuclear forces on alert is part of a pattern of manufactured threats by Moscow to justify its aggression, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said today.
"We've seen him do it time and time again. At no time has Russia been threatened by NATO, threatened by Ukraine," Psaki said on ABC's This Week.
"This is a pattern of President Putin and we will stand up to it. We have the ability to stand up for ourselves, but we also need to speak out about what we see here from President Putin," Psaki added.
Meanwhile, the United States permanent representative to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield said: "Putin continues to escalate this war in a way that is absolutely unacceptable. We must continue to condemn these actions," she said, speaking to the CBS network.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister: a nuclear strike would be a disaster for the world
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said it would be a disaster for Ukraine and the world if his country were to receive a nuclear strike, but signaled that Putin's threats would not weaken the Ukrainian government and the resolve of its people.
"We will not cede a single centimeter of our territory," he says ahead of talks between the Ukrainian-Russian delegations on the Belarusian border.
"This is a war between President Putin and the people of Ukraine."
"This is a war between President Putin and the people of Ukraine. We are determined to defeat Russia in the same way we defeated the previous monster in Europe 80 years ago," he said, referring to Hitler.
Putin's statement
"Western countries are not only taking hostile economic actions against our country, but the leaders of major NATO countries are making aggressive statements about our country. That is why I order that Russia's deterrence forces be put on special duty status," Vladimir Putin said in later statements after his meeting with the Russian defense minister.
According to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, citing the Defense Ministry, the strategic forces "are designed to prevent aggression against Russia and its allies, as well as to defeat the aggressor, including a war using nuclear weapons."
Source: cnn.gr
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