President Joe Biden has asserted that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not joking” about threats to escalate the Russia-Ukraine war by using tactical nuclear weapons, warning that the move could result in “armageddon.”
“He is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological and chemical weapons, because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming,” Biden said during a Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee fundraiser in New York City on Thursday. “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily use tactical nuclear weapons and not end up with Armageddon.”
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan condemned the “loose talk and the nuclear saber-rattling by Putin” during a White House press conference last week, while warning that the Biden administration would take “decisive” actions in response if Russia “went down that dark road.”
Putin warned that the Russian military would “use all the means at our disposal” in Ukraine to “protect Russia and our people” during a recent televised national address. He insisted that his suggestions of using nuclear weapons was “not a bluff.”
“We’re trying to figure out what is Putin’s off-ramp,” Biden said on Thursday. “Where does he get off? Where does he find a way out?” Where does he find himself in a position that he does not, not only lose face but lose significant power in Russia?”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.