Kremlin warns of conflict with NATO if alliance troops fight in Ukraine

FILE PHOTO: A view shows the Red Square with Lenin's Mausoleum as the Russian flag flies on the dome of the Kremlin Senate building in Moscow, Russia June 24, 2023. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File photo

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin warned on Tuesday that conflict between Russia and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance would be inevitable if European members of NATO sent troops to fight in Ukraine.

The war in Ukraine has triggered the worst crisis in Russia's relations with the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and President Vladimir Putin has previously warned of the dangers of a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.