Ritter : Escalation in Ukraine Can Lead to Nuclear War

Sept. 2—Former UN weapons inspector and Marine intelligence officer Scott Ritter has told Sputnik  Aug. 31 that escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict can lead to civilization-ending nuclear war. Ukraine attacking Russia using long-range weapons provided by the NATO and the U.S. “might be interpreted by Russia as a direct attack by the U.S., by NATO, on Russian territory,” he said. Such an attack, Ritter explained, might be regarded as a prelude to a “larger military incursion,” meant to accomplish NATO's ultimate goal, “the strategic defeat of Russia.”

“Russia has made it clear that as a nuclear power, it not only will not, but cannot be defeated strategically—because if such a possibility manifested itself, Russia would be required to use its nuclear arsenal to ensure that outcome would never, never occur. This means general nuclear war,” Ritter said.

Ritter also recalled the warnings made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who questioned the apparent belief that a Russia-NATO conflict would be limited to Europe, and he warned that a Russian retaliatory strike against the United States is possible, if such a conflict were to break out. “This is a very dangerous escalation, one that could rapidly create the conditions conducive for, not limited nuclear conflict, but a general nuclear war, a global-ending global disaster, the destruction of the U.S., the destruction of Russia, the destruction of Europe, the destruction of the world,” Ritter stated. “Why? Because the U.S. and NATO will not be honest about the state of affairs in Ukraine today.”

Ukraine has already “lost the war,” Ritter added, and nothing that Kyiv might do to “tip the scales” in its favor is going to change that. “All it will do is provoke Russia into enlarging this conflict so that it’s not just Ukraine that pays the price, but Europe, the U.S., and the rest of the world,” Ritter said.