Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says a demonstration of force is needed to force Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, writes Odesa.novyny. Now, many are worried that Putin may beat them to it with his own “extreme” retaliatory measures after Ukraine attacked Russian air bases.
Regarding Russia’s nuclear stockpile, Pompeo warned that this is a serious threat.
“I am glad that Putin has not used his nuclear arsenal so far, but this danger is always present. According to my observations, he is willing to change his behavior only when he sees that the opponent is ready to strike back and take risks,” he said.
There are also those in the U.S. military establishment who seem to be worried about the consequences of the attack.
“The risk levels are going way up,” Keith Kellogg, Trump’s envoy for Ukraine and Russia, said in a Fox News interview. “When you attack an opponent’s part of their [nuclear] triad, your risk level goes up because you don’t know what the other side is going to do. And that’s what they did.”
Dan Caldwell, an influential foreign policy adviser who worked as a senior aide to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth until he was purged due to a leaking scandal last month, said: “It is not in America’s interest for Ukraine to be attacking Russia’s strategic nuclear forces the day before another round of peace talks.”
“This has the potential to be highly escalatory and raises the risk of direct confrontation between Russia and NATO,” he said. “The U.S. should not only distance itself from this attack but end any support that could directly or indirectly enable attacks against Russian strategic nuclear forces.”
U.K.’s Express has also written about the increased threat of Putin going nuclear. Russian press and military bloggers are abuzz that Putin and his inner circle are demanding an “extreme response” to Ukraine’s ‘Pearl Harbour’ attack.
The drone offensive attack by Kyiv on air bases deep inside Russian territory is said to have caused damage estimated as high as €6 billion. The strike is believed to have damaged at least 40 war planes, including Tu-95 and Tu-22M heavy bombers.
Even in the U.S., influential conservative commentators are raising the alarm that the drone attack marks a major turning point in the war.
“Most people aren’t paying attention, but we’re closer to nuclear war than we’ve been since this began in 2022,” said Charlie Kirk, who is close to the Trump administration, and leads the Turning Point USA organization.
As for Pompeo, a well known war hawk, he is calling for even more support for Ukraine despite what he says is the threat of nuclear war. His comments came at the second international Black Sea Security Forum in Odessa, during which he also said the U.S. had not done enough to stop Putin from invading in 2022.
The former foreign minister reiterated that all NATO member states must stand united with Ukraine and support action against Russian influence.
“I regret that more was not done in 2014, that more was not done in 2022, that we lost deterrence. And now our task is to return everything to stability. I was involved in the Minsk negotiations (…) we have already sat at that table (negotiations — ed.), and there was no ‘hammer,’ there were no levers of influence,” he is quoted as saying.
Pompeo was also insistent that abandoning Ukraine is not an option for the United States and that the West “cannot return to Russian gas” even if peace is achieved.
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