“American will respond with devastating attacks if Russia uses nuclear weapons”

Retired General Ben Hodges said today that not every response to America “could be nuclear”, but warned that if Putin uses nuclear weapons in Ukraine, then the US could attempt “to destroy the Russian fleet in the Black Sea or Russian Crimea base”.

His comments came after the Russian president sparked a wave of reactions around the world, as he reported on a partial “mobiliation of the army's reserve forces to continue the deadly invasion of Ukraine.

And in a thrilling warning directed at NATO leaders, the desperate Russian despot insisted that he would use all the necessary means to protect occupied territory or expected to be annexed before threatening nuclear weapons.

General Hodges, who had commanded the U.S. Army to Europe during 2014 - 18, stressed that the possibility of Putin ordering nuclear attacks in Ukraine “is very small”.

He said the use of these strategic weapons would be met with a swift and powerful response from President Biden.

“Putin knows the US will respond if Russia uses nuclear weapons”, Hodges told MailOnline.

The American “Answer may not be nuclear... but may be a devastating attack that, for example, could destroy the Russian fleet in the Black Sea or destroy Russian bases in Crimea”.

“Therefore, I think Putin and his people will hesitate to draw the US directly to war”, he added. /Periscopi/