NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia must realize that there is no victorious party in a nuclear war, stressing Ukraine's right to defend itself.
This coincides with the announcement by the pro-Russian authorities in Donetsk, that their forces are advancing on the axis of the strategic town of Mayorsk, one of the towns of what is known as the cordon in the Donbass region, and the intensification of battles in the cities of Bakhmut and Kherson.
Stoltenberg said - in an interview with Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of his official visit to Turkey and his meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan - that "NATO, which is the strongest alliance in history, is able to protect and defend all its members against any nuclear attack," stressing that this step aims to disrupt the clashes. Do not provoke.
He described Russia's threats to use nuclear weapons as "dangerous and reckless rhetoric," noting that such a war should definitely not be involved, and warning that it "would have significant negative consequences for Moscow."
Stoltenberg said that despite the low probability of Russia's use of nuclear weapons, the consequences of this action would be "large and destructive."
And he added, "So we have to take these risks very seriously. That is why we are closely following what Russia is doing."
drain Russia
In answering a question about whether NATO intends to deploy nuclear capabilities in Finland and Sweden if they join the alliance, Stoltenberg said that they do not currently plan to make changes in NATO's positions regarding the deployment of nuclear capabilities.
He also denied that there are countries in the alliance that want to continue the Ukraine war with the aim of draining Russia's capabilities, stressing that all members of the alliance want the ongoing war to end.
He added, "What is happening in Ukraine is an offensive war. Russia and its president Putin occupy another country, and Ukraine, of course, has the right to defend its territory and regain control over the occupied parts of it."
He also stressed that "if Putin stops the war, we will feel peace. If (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky gives up the war, then he will no longer be an independent and sovereign country like Ukraine."
He stressed the need to support Ukraine and strengthen its grip in order for it to remain an independent and sovereign state, as he put it.
In response to a question about whether the alliance intends to provide heavy weapons in the framework of its military support to Ukraine, Stoltenberg said that the alliance and its members provide Kiev with various types of "non-lethal military support".
He added that this type of support is very important, stressing at the same time the importance of providing Kyiv with "heavy and lethal weapons" as well, expressing his welcome to the NATO allies' provision of heavy and modern weapons, armored vehicles, cannons and long-range systems to Ukraine.
Russian advance
On the ground, the pro-Russian authorities in Donetsk announced the advance of Russian forces north of the city's airport and near the city of Gorlovka in the Mayorsk axis.
Denis Pushilin, the leader of the separatists in Donetsk, said that the Russian army was about to seize the strategic town of Mayorsk, one of the "ring towns" in the Donbass region.
Separatist forces in Donetsk released pictures of what they said were the targeting of Ukrainian army positions in the region.
Russian media also reported that huge explosions took place in the depots of weapons and ammunition belonging to the Ukrainian army in the city of Pokrovsk, west of Donetsk.
Ukrainian military sources stated that fierce battles with Russian forces are taking place in at least 9 regions in Donetsk, and that the most intense battles are taking place on the axis of the city of Bakhmut and Kherson.
Russian media also reported that air defenses shot down two of the four missiles fired by Ukrainian forces on the city of Kherson, and that two missiles landed near the train station where the evacuation of civilians from the city is organized.
The Russian Defense Ministry, through its spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, announced that a number of Ukrainian army attacks had been repelled in the Donbass and in the Kherson and Kharkiv regions.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian army said that its air defenses shot down two helicopters of the Russian forces in Kherson and 6 marches in the south of the country, as well as destroying 3 Russian ammunition depots in Pereslav and Kherson.
He also announced the destruction of a Russian cargo boat near the Antonov Bridge on the Dnipro River, and the destruction of an entire military convoy that the Russian forces were trying to transport from Kherson across the Dnipro River.