Former Joint Chiefs of Employees chairman Mike Mullen calls Putin ‘a cornered animal’ over stumbles in Ukraine

Former Joint Chiefs of Employees chairman Mike Mullen calls Putin ‘a cornered animal’ over stumbles in Ukraine
Mike Mullen

Former Joint Chiefs of Employees chairman Mike Mullen.Drew Angerer/Getty Photos

  • fmr. Joint Chiefs of Employees chairman Mullen stated Putin was “a cornered animal” over Ukraine stumbles.

  • “I believe he is increasingly harmful,” Mullen stated of the Russian chief on ABC’s “This Week.”

  • Mullen’s feedback got here after a weekend assault on the strategically important Kerch Strait Bridge.

Former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees Mike Mullen on Sunday known as Russian President Vladimir Putin a “cornered animal” after his navy’s stumbles in Ukraine, but in addition stated that the chief was turning into “increasingly harmful” on the worldwide stage.

Throughout an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” the retired admiral stated that america mustn’t dismiss Putin’s nuclear weapons threats, stating that he had “a lot of choices” for such an assault.

“He is a cornered … animal and I believe he is increasingly harmful,” Mullen. “I believe we’ve got to take him critically and suppose by what the necessities can be to answer that. It additionally speaks to the necessity to get to the desk.”

Putin final month stated that his nation’s menace to have interaction in nuclear warfare was “not a bluff.”

Russia in current months has skilled substantial casualties and retreated from a number of elements of the nation the place they sought a foothold — with Ukrainian counteroffensives within the east blunting Moscow’s long-term plans for the nation.

Putin lately declared a partial mobilization of reservists, however 1000’s of Russian males as a substitute left the nation, unwilling to perish in a battle they didn’t help.

Final week, retired Gen. David Petraeus — who additionally led the CIA in 2011 and 2012 — stated that the warfare “seems to be very dire” for Putin.

“The underside line is Ukraine has performed vastly higher than Russia has in mobilizing its capabilities in recruiting, coaching, equipping, assist by the US and NATO nations large time, organizing, and using extra forces and capabilities,” Petraeus stated on the time.

However Mullen stated that this weekend’s explosion on the Kerch Strait Bridge, a key crossing connecting Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, might escalate the threats of an assault, because the hyperlink is “logistically crucial” for Putin.

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