The eight-month struggle has become even more complex as a result of President Biden’s warning about the potential for “armageddon” coming from the Ukrainian battlefields, The Hill reports.
During his Thursday visit to a Democratic fundraiser, Biden issued the stern warning.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House, said “no,” in response to a question on whether any fresh intelligence reports had prompted Biden to “ratchet up the degree of alarm.”
Jean-Pierre attempted to portray the president’s remarks of ‘armageddon’ as a broad warning about the perils of an escalation and a retort to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s saber-rattling rather than as a specific foretelling of a nuclear assault.
The discussion around Biden’s remarks is reminiscent of a typical Washington back-and-forth and is centered on whether the president’s remarks were inconsistent with intelligence assessments and whether the White House will now have to retract them.
The wider picture, though, is more significant and clear.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has surprised Russian soldiers by making astounding gains, reclaiming vast swaths of once-held territory.
After making significantly larger advances throughout September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late on Thursday that his forces had freed more than 500 square kilometers of land only this month.
Nevertheless, the victories for Ukraine have had the darkly ironic effect of making Putin more desperate—and more likely to accept the types of techniques that have not previously been utilized since the Kremlin began the assault in February.
Four phony referendums have been staged in Ukraine’s eastern regions, and Putin has authorized a mandatory mobilization drive that might result in 300,000 soldiers.
The international world disregarded the results, which reportedly showed two of the areas voting by 99 percent and 98 percent, respectively, to join Russia since the territories are mostly under army occupation.
In addition, Putin has heightened worries that he is ready to deploy a nuclear weapon.
Naturally, many are outraged by the thought that Putin would use nuclear weapons. However, it has also generated debate over possible reactions from the US and its allies.
Despite providing Kyiv with hundreds of millions of dollars in military help, the Biden administration has been insistent that it would not have American “boots on the ground” in Ukraine.
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