NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that the war in Ukraine could turn into a war between NATO and Russia.
"If it goes wrong, it can go horribly wrong," the former Norwegian Prime Minister said on Norwegian channel NRK on Friday.
"It is a terrible war in Ukraine," he added. "It is also a war that could turn into a full-blown war between NATO and Russia. We work every day to prevent that."
Stoltenberg fears that the doomsday scenario could become reality.
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President Vladimir Putin recently refused to rule out using nuclear weapons, saying that Russia would be ready to use "all the means at our disposal" to defend itself if "peaceful means" failed.
Rising tensions
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused NATO allies of indirectly participating in the war by supplying Ukraine with weapons, training Ukrainian troops and passing on military intelligence on the Russian army to Kyiv.
According to President Vladimir Putin, the West is using the war in Ukraine to turn against Russia.
In November, the world held its breath after two Polish people were killed in a missile attack. Experts said that Ukraine's defence had worked to take down Russian missiles and it was possible that one of the missiles was knocked off course resulting in a tragic accident.
Stoltenberg then said it was clear the incident was neither intentional nor that Russia was mounting an attack against NATO members.
He blamed Russia "as it continues its illegal war against Ukraine... Let me be clear, this is not Ukraine's fault."
