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NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin will not win the war in Ukraine despite his order to mobilize thousands of additional troops, NATO’s secretary general said on Wednesday, calling the Russian leader’s threat of using nuclear weapons “dangerous and reckless rhetoric”.
Jens Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview that Russia’s first mobilization since World War II would escalate the conflict and cost more lives, but the move was proof that Putin had miscalculated since the invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
In an address to Russians earlier, Putin announced he would call up 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine and backed a plan to annex parts of the country, hinting to the West that he was prepared to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia. Read more
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“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all available means to protect our people – this is not a bluff,” Putin said.
Russia has “many weapons to respond,” Putin added.
Stoltenberg, speaking to Reuters editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni in New York, said the 30-nation Western defense alliance would remain calm and “not engage in the same kind of reckless and dangerous nuclear rhetoric that President Putin.”
“President Putin’s speech shows that the war is not going according to President Putin’s plans. He has made a big miscalculation,” Stoltenberg said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a press conference at a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain, June 30, 2022. REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura
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“More troops will intensify the conflict. This will mean more suffering, more loss of life: Ukrainian lives, but also Russian lives,” added Stoltenberg.
Putin’s speech followed mounting casualties and battlefield setbacks for Russian forces, who have been pushed out of areas they captured in northeastern Ukraine in a Ukrainian counteroffensive this month and are mired in south
Stoltenberg said that while Russian troops were poorly equipped and lacked adequate command and control, it was hard to see the conflict ending in the short term as long as Russia did not accept that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent nation.
“The only way to end this war is to show that President Putin is not going to win on the battlefield. When he realizes that, he needs to sit down and negotiate a reasonable deal with Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said, the former Norwegian Prime Minister.
Stoltenberg added that alliance members have provided unprecedented support to Ukraine and that NATO allies now need to replenish their stockpiles of weapons and ammunition.
Because NATO was prepared for the “long term” in dealing with Putin, it was now in close dialogue with the defense industry to recover its material stocks, Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg said China is among the security challenges NATO must face, but he does not see it as an adversary. Stoltenberg also pointed to China’s “coercive behavior” in the South China Sea and against its neighbors, as well as “the way they violate basic human rights.”
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Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in New York and John Chalmers in Brussels; Written by John Chalmers; Editing by Will Dunham
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