President Joe Biden issued a stark warning that the world could face “Armageddon” if Russian President Vladimir Putin makes good on his threat to use nuclear weapons in order to try and win his war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine has brought the world closer to “Armageddon” than at any time since the Cold-War Cuban Missile Crisis, Biden said.
They are some of Biden’s most outspoken remarks to date about the threat of nuclear war.
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” Biden said.
“He’s not joking when he talks about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming,” Biden said of Putin.
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
As Putin’s seven-month invasion unravels, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s forces were swiftly recapturing more territory, including more than 500 sq km in the south where they burst through a second major front this week.
Putin’s failings on the battlefield have brought unusual public recrimination from Russia’s allies. One Russian-installed leader in one of the occupied Ukraine territories went so far as to suggest the Russian defense minister should have shot himself.
Biden warned the prospect of defeat could make Putin desperate enough to use nuclear weapons.
One fear is that Putin could use a short range “tactical” nuclear weapon to try to stop Ukraine’s counter-offensive in its tracks and force Kyiv to negotiate and cede territory.
There is less fear that a “strategic” weapon on long-range missiles would be used, which both the U.S. and Russia have stockpiled since the Cold War.
But Biden suggested that using a “tactical” weapon over a “strategic” one would make little difference.
“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,” Biden said.
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