The cry for help is getting louder – US senators are even calling for cross-party action in the event of a nuclear attack: When will NATO strike?

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In the war in Ukraine, the call for NATO is getting louder. For example, US senators are calling for a cross-party NATO commitment if Russia launches a nuclear strike or destroys a nuclear power plant.

The senders of the resolution are Republican Lindsey Graham (67) of South Carolina and Democrat Richard Blumenthal (77) of Connecticut. Graham says: “We believe that nuclear weapons used in Ukraine will emit radiation in large areas of Europe where NATO allies are located.”

He and his colleague Blumenthal believe that the threat of using a nuclear bomb is real. Graham: “The best way to deter this threat is to give Putin’s Russia clarity on what will happen if it uses nuclear weapons.”

The resolution is advisory in nature and has yet to be approved by the parties.

On Monday, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda (59) also called on NATO for help. Due to the rebellion of the Wagner Group, he calls for a stronger alliance presence on the eastern flank. “This is NATO’s frontline, where there is no room for even the smallest security flaw,” Nauseda said after meeting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, 64, in Vilnius on Monday.

Zero tolerance in the US

At a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, a number of participants made it clear that they consider the situation in Moscow unpredictable, even after the withdrawal of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s (62) Wagner group. A horror scenario is that Russian President Vladimir Putin (70) could be tempted to use nuclear weapons for military success in the offensive war against Ukraine.

How realistic is NATO’s active involvement in the war in Ukraine? Liviu Horovitz, 40, NATO and nuclear expert at the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik in Berlin, told Blick: “There are no signs that NATO is heading for war.” Because there are hardly any signs that Russia intends to use nuclear weapons in the war against Ukraine.

The Biden administration has also repeatedly stressed that Washington has no interest in participating directly in the war.

However, if a nuclear attack were to happen, not only would it have extreme consequences on the ground, but the entire global system as we know it would be called into question. “The United States should most likely show its allies in Europe and Asia that Washington will not tolerate such an approach,” Horovitz said.

US instead of NATO

In such a case, it is more likely that not NATO, but the US will take military measures against Russia on its own initiative. The question is, however, whether this would mean that people would go to war. Horovitz: “Both Russia and the US are aware that massive military conflicts between nuclear powers are difficult to manage and that a strategic nuclear escalation in this case poses a real danger.”

NATO will meet in Vilnius on 11 and 12 July for the summit. She will have to implement what she decided in Madrid a year ago. It is about continuing and increasing support to Ukraine and strengthening the eastern flank. Financing is also an important point: each member state must invest at least two percent of its gross domestic product in defense in the future.

Source: Blick