THE US has warned Vladimir Putin of 'catastrophic consequences' if he carries out his chilling threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
The US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday night that the US will "respond decisively" if the Russian leader carries out the nuke warning he made on Wednesday.
Sullivan told NBC's "Meet the Press" program:"If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia. The United States will respond decisively."
Sullivan did not describe the nature of the planned US response but said the United States has privately "spelled out in greater detail exactly what that would mean" to Moscow.
He added that the United States has been in frequent, direct contact with Russia, including during the last few days to discuss the situation in Ukraine and Putin's actions and threats.
Sullivan continued: "Putin remains intent ... on wiping out the Ukraine people that he does not believe have a right to exist.
"So he's going to keep coming and we have to keep coming with weapons, ammunition, intelligence and all the support we can provide."
In a chilling warning to the West, the dictator who has enforced nationwide mobilisation said: “This is not a bluff.”
Meanwhile, the country's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov who was speaking at the UN General Assembly on Saturday said annexed regions of Ukraine would be protected as Russian Territory.
Referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories continued for a third day on Sunday.
Ukraine and its allies have dismissed the referendums as a sham designed to justify an escalation of the war and a mobilisation drive by Moscow after recent battlefield losses.
US President Joe Biden in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday accused Putin of making "overt nuclear threats against Europe" in reckless disregard for nuclear nonproliferation responsibilities.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss said Britain and its allies should not heed threats from Putin, who had made what she called a strategic mistake as he had not anticipated the strength of reaction from the West.
She told CNN in an interview broadcast on Sunday: "We should not be listening to his sabre-rattling and his bogus threats.
" Instead, what we need to do is continue to put sanctions on Russia and continue to support the Ukrainians."
