The world hasn't witnessed a move like this "since World War II," senior US defense official says
From CNN's Ellie Kaufman and Oren Liebermann
A woman walks past debris in the aftermath of shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, on February 24. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP)
The world has not seen a “move like this, nation state-to-nation state, since World War II,” a senior US defense official told reporters Thursday about Russia's attack on Ukraine — “certainly nothing on this size and scope and scale.”
The official warned that if this conflict “unfolds the way that hereto we have come to believe it will,” it has “every potential to be very bloody, very costly and very impactful on European security writ large.”
“This is 100% a war of choice that [Russian President] Putin has decided to wage for reasons that are not justified,” the official added.