The world could face “Armageddon” if Russian President Vladimir Putin uses a tactical nuclear weapon to try to win the war in Ukraine, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday.
Biden made his most outspoken remarks to date about the threat of nuclear war at a Democratic Party fundraiser in New York, saying it was the closest the world had come to nuclear catastrophe for 60 years.
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since [then-US president John F.] Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” he said.
Photo: REUTERS
“We’ve got a guy I know fairly well,” Biden said, referring to Putin. “He’s not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is ... significantly underperforming.”
Putin and his officials have repeatedly threatened to use Russia’s nuclear arsenal in an effort to deter the US and its allies from supporting Ukraine and helping it resist the all-out Russian invasion launched in February. One fear is that he could use a short range “tactical” nuclear weapon to try to stop Ukraine’s counteroffensive in its tracks and force Kyiv to negotiate and cede territory.
If Russia did use a nuclear weapon, it would leave the US and its allies with the dilemma of how to respond, with most experts and former US officials predicting that if Washington struck back militarily, it would most likely be with conventional weapons, to try to avert rapid escalation to an all-out nuclear war.
However, Biden told the fundraiser: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily [use] a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”
“First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have the threat of a nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” Biden said. “We are trying to figure out what is Putin’s off-ramp? Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself where he does not only lose face but significant power?”
Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov yesterday called on Russian troops to lay down their arms, promising them “life and safety.”
“You can still save Russia from tragedy and the Russian army from humiliation,” Reznikov said in Russian in a video addressed to Russian troops. “We guarantee life, safety and justice for all who refuse to fight immediately. And we will ensure a tribunal for those who gave criminal orders,” he said.
“You have been deceived and betrayed” by the Kremlin, Reznikov added.
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