When questioned about Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declaring the threat of nuclear war “serious and genuine,” US Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said it was “absolutely irresponsible” for any senior leader of a nuclear country to start “rattling a nuclear sabre.”

“Everyone takes it seriously when a senior leader of a nation state starts rattling a nuclear sabre,” Milley said in a CNN live interview.
Russia’s “principled attitude,” according to Lavrov, is nuclear deterrence “”The risk is severe, it is real, and it cannot be underestimated,” he continued.

Milley stated that the US military, together with “friends and allies,” is watching Russia’s nuclear threat.”

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the international community, including the US and Ukraine, are focused on not letting the situation “spin out of control.”

Any “possibility of use of nuclear weapons is very dangerous and unhelpful. Nobody wants to see a nuclear war. Nobody can win that,” he said.