European Union: We do not cheat and will eliminate the Russian army if Putin uses nuclear

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has threatened to completely eliminate the Russian army if President Vladimir Putin uses nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

On Thursday, the European official stressed the seriousness of Western countries and the United States to take a strong military response against Russia if it struck Ukraine with a nuclear weapon.

"Putin says he is not cheating about the nuclear threat. He must understand that the countries that support Ukraine, the European Union and its member states, the United States and NATO, are also not cheating," Borrell said.

"Any nuclear attack against Ukraine will generate a response, not a nuclear one, but a strong military response that will eliminate the Russian army," he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said on more than one occasion that he will take all measures to defend his country's interests, including the use of nuclear weapons if necessary.

Western leaders condemned Russia's threat to use nuclear weapons, and threatened it with dire consequences if it carried out this threat.

Serious consequences

For his part, the NATO Secretary General said, "There will be serious consequences if Russia uses nuclear weapons, any kind of nuclear weapons against Ukraine."

"We will not go into how we will respond, but that will fundamentally change the nature of the conflict. It will mean that a very important dividing line has been crossed."

He pointed out that the primary purpose of NATO's nuclear deterrence is to maintain peace and prevent encroachment on allied countries in it, and therefore the circumstances and circumstances that drive it to the possibility of using nuclear weapons are "very remote."

But French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that his country does not want a world war, calling on his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to stop the war and respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

And he added - in a tweet on Twitter - "We are helping Ukraine to resist on its soil, not to attack Russia at all. (President) Vladimir Putin must stop this war and respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine."