The United States called on other nations to tell Russia to stop making nuclear threats and end “the horror” of its war in Ukraine as all three countries' top diplomats spoke — but didn't quite meet — at a high-profile UN Security Council meeting on Thursday.
Held alongside the annual UN General Assembly gathering of world leaders, the session followed a striking development in the war this week: Russia called up a portion of its reserves for the first time since World War II. At the same time, President Vladimir Putin said his nuclear-armed country will “use all means available to us” to defend itself if its territory is threatened.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken saw Putin's remark as particularly menacing given plans for referendums in Russian-controlled parts of eastern and southern Ukraine on whether to become part of Russia.
Western nations have condemned those votes as illegitimate and nonbinding. But, in their wake, Moscow might then see any Ukrainian attempt to retake those areas as an attack on “Russian territory,” Blinken warned.
“Every council member should send a clear message that these reckless nuclear threats must stop immediately,” he said.