Thu. Mar 28th, 2024

Joe Biden has warned Russia over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine that NATO would be forced to respond if the chemical weapons are used. Speaking after the emergency meeting of NATO and G7 in Brussels, the US president said that any retaliation would be proportional, though he wouldn’t confirm that he would put in force group action. “We would respond,” Biden said, in response to an issue about what NATO would do. “We would respond if he uses it. the character of the response would depend upon the character of the utilization.”

The US wanted to work out the removal of Russia from the G20 club of leading economic nations, but Indonesia disagreed. Biden and other western leaders feared that a struggling Russia might try and end Ukraine’s stubborn resistance within the war that lasted a month and claimed lives with a chemical or nuclear weapon.

Concern, a couple of possible Russian chemical or warfare, dominated the NATO summit on Thursday. Speaking some minutes before Biden, UK prime minister Boris Johnson warned of disastrous consequences for Russia should Putin use chemical weapons in Ukraine. “You should have a touch of ambiguity about your response, but I feel it’d be catastrophic for him if he were to try and do that – and I think he understands that,” Johnson told a news conference.

All 30 NATO leaders warned Russia against using chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, arguing in an exceedingly final summit statement that such use “would be unacceptable and end in severe consequences.” However, again they didn’t spell out what the response would be. NATO members would even supply masks, protective suits, detection and other equipment to Ukraine, NATO’s administrator Jens Stoltenberg confirmed, reflecting western fears that Russia is trying to make “some reasonable pretext.”

The alarm grew after Russia began to spread unproven claims this month that Ukraine had been developing a biological weapons program with the assistance of the US. on Biden said such claims were a “clear sign” that Putin was contemplating a biological or chemical assault. The event, production and stockpiling, and chemical weapons are banned by a world treaty signed by 193 countries, including Russia and the US.

NATO leaders also are willing to send more powerful weapons to Ukraine after a plea at the Brussels summit from the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, for tanks, rockets, and air-defense systems. On Thursday, during a three-hour meeting, the 30 heads of state discussed how they might upgrade and increase their weapons supply – but without provoking Russia to the purpose where the conflict would result in a broader war in Europe. Stoltenberg said: “I won’t get in the main points of the precise form of systems we are deploying … What I can say is that allies do what they will  support Ukraine with weapons.”

Biden, Johnson, and other NATO leaders heard a characteristically passionate call from Zelenskiy for “military assistance – without restrictions” at the summit. He asked NATO members to produce more weapons because “Russia uses its entire arsenal against us” without restrictions. Zelenskiy specifically asked for anti-missile systems, MLRS rocket artillery, anti-ship weapons, air defense equipment, and tanks and fighter jets. “You can give us 1% of all of your planes, 1% of your tanks,” he said.

NATO leaders discussed what other weapons may be supplied, as long as Ukraine had held out for much longer than expected, and which countries were best placed to provide what arms, western officials said. “There was a discussion both about more [military equipment] in terms of more numbers and various equipment,” one official said. But there are limits; officials indicated they thought it unlikely any NATO country would want to supply tanks for fear of Russian retaliation.

“We have a responsibility to forestall this conflict from becoming a full-fledged war in Europe, involving Ukraine and Russia, but NATO allies and Russia,” Stoltenberg said in an exceedingly post-summit conference. NATO members have mainly said they will only provide “defensive equipment.” However, Johnson said the United Kingdom would double the number of British missiles sent to Ukraine with an extra 6,000. He also pledged an additional £25m to Ukraine’s military to assist it in fighting Russia.

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