Ex-CIA chief: US will destroy Russian military if Moscow uses nukes

Russia’s “irreversible quagmire” in Ukraine cannot be changed by nuclear threats, says ex-CIA chief and army general David Petraeus.

By David Hellerman, World Israel News

Russia faces an “irreversible quagmire” in Ukraine which cannot be changed by nuclear threats, said ex-CIA chief and retired four-star army general David Petraeus on Sunday.

Moscow “is losing” despite “significant” but “desperate” moves in Ukraine, Petraeus told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.

“President [Volodymyr] Zelensky and Ukraine have mobilized vastly better than has Russia,” Petraeus said. “Ukraine has recruited, trained, equipped, organized and employed force incomparably better than Russia has.”

Despite President Vladimir Putin’s bellicose rhetoric, “No amount of annexation, no amount of even veiled nuclear threats can get him out of this situation,” Petraeus stressed.

“Just to give you a hypothetical, we would respond by leading a NATO – a collective – effort that would take out every Russian conventional force that we can see and identify on the battlefield in Ukraine and also in Crimea and every ship in the Black Sea,” he said.

“It cannot go unanswered. But it doesn’t expand — it’s not nuclear for nuclear. You don’t want to get into a nuclear escalation here,” Petraeus said. “But you have to show that this cannot be accepted in any way.”