KYIV, Ukraine (Dispatches) -- The head of NATO expressed worry that the fighting in Ukraine could spin out of control and become a war between Russia and NATO.
“If things go wrong, they can go horribly wrong,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in remarks to Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
“It is a terrible war in Ukraine. It is also a war that can become a full-fledged war that spreads into a major war between NATO and Russia,” he said. “We are working on that every day to avoid that.”
Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, said in the interview that “there is no doubt that a full-fledged war is a possibility,” adding that it was important to avoid a conflict “that involves more countries in Europe and becomes a full-fledged war in Europe.”
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused NATO allies of effectively becoming a party to the conflict by providing Ukraine with weapons, training its troops and feeding military intelligence to attack Russian forces.
In comments that reflected soaring tensions between Russia and the West, President Vladimir Putin suggested Moscow might think about using what he described as the U.S. concept of a preemptive strike.
“Speaking about a disarming strike, maybe it’s worth thinking about adopting the ideas developed by our U.S. counterparts, their ideas of ensuring their security,” he said.
Long before the Ukraine war, the Kremlin expressed concern about U.S. efforts to develop the so-called Prompt Global Strike capability that envisions hitting an adversary’s strategic targets with precision-guided conventional weapons anywhere in the world within one hour.
Putin noted that such a strike could knock out command facilities.
“We are just thinking about it, they weren’t shy to openly talk about it during the pas t years,” he said, claiming that Moscow’s precision-guided cruise missiles outperform similar U.S. weapons and Russia has hypersonic weapons that the U.S. hasn’t deployed.
Putin also said he was disappointed with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s recent comments that a 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine negotiated by France and Germany had bought time for Ukraine to prepare for the 2022 war.
“I assumed that other participants of the process were sincere with us, but it turned out that they were cheating us,” he said. “It turned out that they wanted to pump Ukraine with weapons and prepare for hostilities.”
Putin argued that Merkel’s statement showed that Russia was right in launching what he calls the “special military operation” in Ukraine. “Perhaps we should have started it earlier,” he said.
He also said her comments further eroded Russia’s trust in the West, complicating any possible peace talks.
“Eventually we will have to negotiate an agreement,” he said. “But after such statements there is an issue of trust. Trust is close to zero. I repeatedly have said that we are ready for an agreement, but it makes us think, think about whom we are dealing with.”
In separate comments via video link to defense and security chiefs of several ex-Soviet nations, Putin again accused the West of using Ukraine as a tool against his country.
“For many years, the West shamelessly exploited and pumped out its resources, encouraged genocide and terror in the Donbas and effectively turned the country into a colony,” he said. “Now it’s cynically using the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder, as a ram against Russia by continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, sending mercenaries and pushing it to a suicidal track.”
The United States will send an additional $275 million security package to Ukraine, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said.
The package “will provide Ukraine new capabilities to boost its air defenses and counter the threats that Ukraine is facing,” Kirby said in a briefing.
The U.S. will also provide critical defense equipment including ammunition for HIMARS rocket launchers, according to Kirby.
The U.S. has given more than $19 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the start of the war in February.
Meanwhile, the European Union is to add 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) to a fund used to help arm Ukraine, as paying for weapon deliveries has drained the coffers, European diplomats said.
Diplomats said a preliminary agreement had been struck among the 27-member bloc to bolster the European Peace Facility, which has already committed over 3 billion euros to covering the cost of weaponry for Kyiv.
It was hoped that foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday would formally sign off on the move.
But diplomats said a separate standoff with Hungary over its own frozen EU funds could see Budapest delay approval.
So far, together with its member states, the European Union has committed about 8 billion euros to military support to Ukraine.