USA TODAY
Russia could be preparing to use chemical weapons in Ukraine, an act that would draw a ‘severe price,’ White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned Sunday.
Sullivan told CBS News that Russian rhetoric is increasingly claiming the Ukrainians and Americans will potentially use chemical or biological weapons ‘and that’s an indicator that, in fact, the Russians are getting ready to do it, and try and pin the blame elsewhere and nobody should fall for that.’
Asked what consequences would result, he said he would not go beyond what President Joe Biden indicated on Friday: ‘They will pay a severe price.’
‘We have communicated that directly to the Russians,’ he said on NBC News’ ‘Meet the Press.’
The warning comes hours after a Russian airstrike on a military training base in western Ukraine killed at least 35 people and wounded 134, a local official said. The assault brought the war to within 25 miles of the border with NATO-member Poland after a senior Russian diplomat warned that Moscow considered foreign shipments of military equipment to Ukraine ‘legitimate targets.’
The United States and NATO have regularly sent instructors to the range, also known as the International Peacekeeping and Security Center, to train Ukrainian military personnel. The facility has also hosted international NATO drills. Just weeks before the war began, Florida National Guard members trained there.
The base has become a crucial logistics hub and training center since Russia’s invasion began, The New York Times reported. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told ABC News that U.S. military personnel had left the training facility weeks ago and were not present during the airstrike. It was not immediately revealed whether any foreign fighters were at the center.