Polish official claims the US told Russia it would strike Russian targets in Ukraine if Putin used nuclear weapons

BUSINESS INSIDER:  Poland's foreign minister said the US had told Russia that it would strike Russian targets in Ukraine if Putin were to use nuclear weapons.

In an interview with the Guardian, Radosław Sikorski seemed doubtful of Russia's threats about using nuclear weapons, saying: "The Americans have told the Russians that if you explode a nuke, even if it doesn't kill anybody, we will hit all your targets [positions] in Ukraine with conventional weapons, we'll destroy all of them."

"I think that's a credible threat," he said. "Also, the Chinese and the Indians have read Russia the riot act. And it's no child's play because if that taboo were also to be breached, like the taboo of not changing borders by force, China knows that Japan and Korea would go nuclear, and presumably they don't want that."

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev hit back at Sikorski's comments in a post on X, formerly Twitter, saying that US strikes on Russian targets would result in a "world war."

"Americans hitting our targets means starting a world war, and a Foreign Minister, even of a country like Poland should understand that," Medvedev said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has consistently threatened to use nuclear weapons since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In September of that year — when Russia began the partial mobilization of reservists for the war — Putin raised the specter of a nuclear conflict, adding that his warnings were "not a bluff."

In February of this year, Putin made one of his most explicit threats after French President Emmanual Macron suggested NATO troops could be sent to Ukraine.

Western nations "must realize that we also have weapons that can hit targets on their territory," Putin said, adding: "All this really threatens a conflict with the use of nuclear weapons and the destruction of civilization. Don't they get that?"

In February, the Financial Times reported on the criteria that would lead Russia to consider a nuclear response, citing leaked documents.

The criteria included conditions such as the destruction of 20% of Russia's strategic ballistic missile submarines or an enemy incursion on Russian territory, per the FT.

In his interview with the Guardian, Sikorski also said that Europe had to learn to play the escalation game better by not fully revealing its hand to Putin.

"Always declaring what our own red line is only invites Moscow to tailor its hostile actions to our constantly changing self-imposed limitations," he said.