Retired Admiral Mike Mullen mentioned Sunday that the US should contemplate the chance that Russian President Vladimir Putin will launch a nuclear strike because the conflict in Ukraine continues.

"It's extremely troublesome to know what Putin is considering at any specific time. He is clearly spoken to this. I believe we have to guarantee that we contemplate it as a chance," Mullen advised host Martha Raddatz throughout an interview on ABC's This Week.

Nuclear weapons "are part of Putin's arsenal [and] he is fairly nicely cornered and boxed in," he mentioned, including that they are "probably the most devastating weapons ever created on Earth."

Mullen, who additionally served because the Joint Chiefs of Employees Chair underneath former President Barack Obama, famous that such weapons had been "devastating" once they had been deployed within the Nineteen Forties and efforts must be made to "guarantee that they do not get used."

Earlier this month, the Russian ambassador to the U.S. Anatoly Antonov advised Newsweek that NATO just isn't taking the nuclear conflict menace significantly.

Though Putin hasn't explicitly mentioned that Russia will launch a nuclear assault, a number of high-ranking Western officers have warned that it is necessary to be ready for any potential strike.

Russia using nuclear weapons is a possibility
Russian President Vladimir Putin utilizing nuclear weapons within the Ukraine conflict is a chance the U.S. should contemplate, Retired Admiral Mike Mullen mentioned Sunday. Above, Putin is seen in the course of the Summit of Collective Safety Treaty Organisation (CSTO) on Might 16 in Moscow, Russia.Picture by Contributor/Getty Photos

On Saturday, Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah famous that given Putin's "illogical" actions, you will need to be able to face any potential nuclear assaults.

"By invading Ukraine, Mr. Putin has already proved that he's able to illogical and self-defeating choices," Romney wrote in a New York Occasions op-ed. "If he loses in Ukraine, he not solely can have failed to attain his life's ambition to reverse what he sees because the 'best geopolitical disaster' of the twentieth century—the collapse of the Soviet Union—however he may even have completely diminished Russia as an excellent energy and reinvigorated its adversaries."

Earlier this month, Bob Menendez, chairman of the Senate Overseas Relations Committee, weighed in on the chance of Putin deploying weapons of mass destruction on Fox Information Sunday. "One in all my issues is that, satirically, the extra success that the Ukrainians have, the better the danger that Putin will do one thing as a result of he is dropping and has to avoid wasting face at residence. And so the potential of a chemical, organic or tactical nuclear weapon could develop because of that."

Russia's Nuclear Weapons Doctrine

Russia has a army doctrine that outlines sure situations wherein the nation is allowed to make use of nuclear weapons, in keeping with Russia's Deputy Overseas Minister Alexander Grushko.

Russia is allowed to make use of the weapons if the nation's crucial authorities or army websites are attacked by the enemy in a manner that may underestimate a nuclear pressure response actions. The situations additionally embrace when the nation's enemies are additionally utilizing these or different weapons that trigger mass destruction on Russian territories and/or its allies.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian international affairs ministry for remark.