NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday denounced Russia for its "nuclear saber-rattling" and China for providing Moscow with political support, "including by spreading blatant lies and misinformation" as the humanitarian toll of Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues to mount.
Stoltenberg made the comments during a press conference in Brussels ahead of a NATO leaders' summit there and hours after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to take the threat of a nuclear attack off the table.
"Russia must stop its nuclear saber-rattling. This is dangerous, and it is irresponsible," Stoltenberg told reporters.
"Any use of nuclear weapons will fundamentally change the nature of the conflict. And Russia must understand that a nuclear war should never be fought," he continued. "They can never win a nuclear war."
Earlier this week, Russian officials said they would use nukes, if only in the case of an existential threat to their country.
On a related note, President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned that Putin could resort to chemical or biological attacks against Ukraine.
"I think it's a real threat," he said.
Biden is set to land in Brussels Wednesday and meet Thursday with leaders at NATO headquarters on next steps. He will then attend and deliver remarks at a Group of Seven meeting to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg warned that NATO was prepared to counter "any threat, any attack."
"We face a fundamentally changed security environment where authoritarian powers are increasingly prepared to use force to get their way," he told reporters. "Beijing has joined Moscow in questioning the right of independent nations to choose their own path. China has provided Russia with political support, including by spreading blatant lies and misinformation."
China has repeatedly called for peace talks in Ukraine but has not pressed Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg told reporters Wednesday he expects leaders will call on China to "live up to its responsibilities as a member of the UN Security Council" and "refrain from supporting Russia's war effort … and join the rest of the world in calling for an immediate, peaceful end to this war."
For its part, Russia has repeatedly accused Washington and Kyiv of plotting to use chemical weapons against its forces. NATO and Biden have strongly denied that, with Biden suggesting that President Vladimir Putin's continued emphasis on this claim suggests he's building a rationale for using them himself.
Meanwhile, Western leaders are increasingly concerned that Beijing, beyong parroting Moscow propaganda, may look to provide material support to further the invasion of Ukraine.
In a phone call with Chinese President Xi Xinping last week, Biden strongly warned against such a move.
But China has been flexing its muscle as a political and economic superpower, and there are omnipresent fears it's planning its own invasion to take over and absorb Taiwan, taking its example from Russia's Ukraine move..