Russia’s deterrent threat to the West as state TV warns Putin WILL use nuclear weapons if NATO peacekeepers invade Ukraine

RUSSIA has threatened to trigger World War III by nuclear bombing the West if NATO peacekeepers set foot in war-ravaged Ukraine.

The harrowing threats came from President Vladimir Putin strictly controlled state television went into overdrive on Wednesday to warn NATO against deploying any form of peacekeeping forces.

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The chilling upsurge in rhetoric was led by a series of claims by propaganda spokesmen that Poland will seek a NATO mandate to send peacekeepers to an extraordinary summit in Ukraine on Thursday.

Pro-Kremlin TV also made the unsubstantiated claim that Warsaw may try to retake Ukrainian territory that used to belong to Poland, such as the city of Lviv.

Vyacheslav Nikonov, a pro-Kremlin host on state-run Channel 1, claimed Russian truckers stuck at the border spotted “a conglomeration of American and Polish troops.”

In a chilling statement, he told viewers: “As far as I’m concerned, Poland is anxious not just to serve a peacekeeping mission, but to stake out the areas they consider historically theirs.”

Military expert Col. Yury Knutov repeated the same line on the channel, claiming: “If there are still sane people in NATO, they will not agree [a peacekeeping] surgery [in Ukraine].

“Why because [a collective] The NATO decision means a de facto declaration of war on Russia.

“To win this war, whether we like it or not, we must use tactical nuclear weapons in the theater of operations.”

He said this would involve the “deployment of powerful strategic nuclear weapons,” which he said “means universal nuclear war.”

While Olga Skabeyeva, presenter of Rossiya 1’s state broadcast 60 Minutes, said such NATO intervention in Ukraine was “not worth explaining”.

“It’s called World War III,” she added.

Tensions skyrocketed after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Russia “can never win a nuclear war” and that Moscow must end its “dangerous, irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.”

Russia must understand that it can never win a nuclear war

Jens Stoltenberg, head of NATO

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday ahead of today’s extraordinary NATO summit, Mr Stoltenberg pledged to step up NATO’s presence in Poland following the horror unfolding in Ukraine.

He said: “I expect leaders will agree to strengthen NATO’s stance on all fronts, with significant reinforcements in the eastern part of the alliance on land, air and sea.”

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NATO leaders are expected to agree to the deployment of four new battlegroups on the alliance’s eastern flank in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

This will bring the number of multinational groups on NATO’s eastern edge to eight.

The reinforcement of troops builds on existing forces in Poland and the Baltic countries of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia – where thousands of British soldiers are currently stationed.

President Joe Biden has previously warned of the possibility of “World War III” should Western nations engage in direct combat with Russia.

Don’t you Poles dare to go even 10 meters in here – you will be hit immediately with the full force of our caliber

Vladimir Shamanov, former Russian colonel

Amid rising tensions, Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov – a distinguished Russian veteran also known as “The Butcher of Chechnya” – told Channel 1 that Putin needs to secure the border between Ukraine and Poland.

Claiming that Ukraine is Russia’s, he said: “It’s about time our leadership said very clearly: these are the borders.

“And you Poles don’t dare poke even 10 meters into here. You will be hit instantly with all the power of our caliber [cruise missiles].”

The Poles would be “completely” defeated if they tried to disrupt Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, he said.

While Putin’s crackpot spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Russia would only use nuclear weapons in the event of an “existential threat.”

But he warned that sending Western peacekeeping forces to Ukraine is “very premature and extremely dangerous”.

He said: “Any possible contact between our military personnel and NATO military personnel could lead to understandable consequences that would be difficult to rectify.”

HEAVY LOSSES

A US defense official told Reuters on Wednesday Russia’s combat capability in Ukraine has fallen below 90% of pre-invasion levels for the first time since the beginning of the war.

The estimate indicates heavy casualties borne by Russia.

Estimates put Russian losses at a whopping 15,600 men.

While the United Nations says it has recorded 953 civilian deaths and 1,557 injuries among Ukrainians – but the real number is expected to be much higher.

Millions of people have fled their homes since the invasion – which entered its 28th day on Thursday.

Western arms shipped to Kyiv end up in the hands of “terrorists, Nazis and criminals,” viewers are told.

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