US President Joe Biden has mentioned the world is going through the most important risk of nuclear “Armageddon” for the reason that days of President Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in Washington, his ‘off digital camera’ feedback had been overheard by journalists from the White House pool.
Describing Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Biden mentioned he had “got to know the guy pretty well”.
“He’s not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is you might say significantly underperforming.”
And he made clear his issues that if such weapons had been deployed it will shortly escalate into world nuclear battle.
“First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” he mentioned.
During the 1962 disaster, the United States underneath President John Kennedy and the Soviet Union underneath Nikita Kruschev got here near utilizing nuclear weapons over the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
Mr Biden mentioned he and US officers had been looking for a diplomatic off-ramp.
“I’m trying to figure out what is Putin’s off-ramp?” he mentioned. “Where does he discover a method out? Where does he discover himself able that he doesn’t not solely lose face however lose important energy inside Russia?
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis.”
He added: “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.
“I did not realise how a lot critical harm the earlier administration did to our international coverage.”
US officials have warned for the last few months about the prospect of Russia using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine after numerous strategic setbacks on the battlefield.
Mr Putin has repeatedly alluded to using his country’s vast nuclear arsenal.
Last month, when he announced plans to conscript Russian men to serve in Ukraine, he said: “I wish to remind you that our nation additionally has varied technique of destruction … and when the territorial integrity of our nation is threatened, to guard Russia and our individuals, we will definitely use all of the means at our disposal.”
With a lingering stare at the camera, he added: “It’s not a bluff.”
On Thursday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Mr Putin understood the “world won’t ever forgive” a Russian nuclear strike.
“He understands that after the usage of nuclear weapons he can be unable any extra to protect, so to talk, his life, and I’m assured of that,” Mr Zelenskyy mentioned.
Source: information.sky.com”