President Vladimir Putin's thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons after Russian setbacks in Ukraine was "dangerous and reckless rhetoric," NATO's secretary general said on Wednesday, adding that the only way to end the war was to prove Moscow will not win on the battlefield.
Jens Stoltenberg also told Reuters in an interview that Putin's announcement of Russia's first military mobilization since World War Two would escalate the conflict and cost more lives. But, the NATO chief added, it also represented evidence that Putin had made a "big mistake" with Russia's decision to invade its neighbor on Feb. 24.
