The US president said Thursday that Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons in the Ukraine conflict puts the world at risk of an “apocalypse.”
This is the first time since the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War, Joe Biden stressed.
“We haven’t faced the prospect of an apocalypse since [ex-Presidente John F.] Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis” in 1962, he said at a fundraiser in New York, where he said his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, “wasn’t kidding” when he made the threats.
US officials have been warning for months about the possibility that Russia could use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine, following a series of strategic battlefield setbacks.
However, just this week they said they had not seen any changes in the Russian nuclear forces that would require a change in the alert posture of the US nuclear forces.
“We see no reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have any indication that Russia is preparing to use nuclear weapons imminently,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.
On Thursday, Biden said he was still “trying to figure out” Putin’s “off-ramp” in Ukraine.
“Where is he going to find a way out? (…) How does he find himself in a position where he not only loses face but also loses significant power within Russia?” Biden asked.
Putin has repeatedly alluded to the use of the vast nuclear arsenal, including last month when he announced plans for a partial deployment.
“I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction … and when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, in order to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all means at our disposal,” Putin said. on September 21 and added, with a long look at the camera: “This is not a bluff.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that the United States has been “clear” with Russia about what the “consequences” of using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would be.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Putin understood that “the world will never forgive” a Russian nuclear attack.
“He understands that after the use of nuclear weapons he could no longer preserve, so to speak, his life, and I am sure of that,” he said.
Source: TSF
