US President Joe Biden said the world is facing the greatest nuclear “Armageddon” threat since President Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis.
Speaking at a Democratic Party fundraiser in New York, his “off-screen” comments were overheard by reporters from the White House pool.
It comes when Russian officials warned of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive military setbacks in the invasion of Ukraine.
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Describing Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Biden he said he had “known the boy quite well”.
“He’s not kidding when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his army is significantly underperformed.”
And he clarified his concerns that if such weapons were deployed they would quickly escalate into a world-wide nuclear conflict.
“For the first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat to use nuclear weapons if indeed things continue along the way they are going,” he said.
“I’m trying to figure out what Putin’s exit ramp is?” He said. “Where does he find a way out? Where is he in a position where he not only loses face, but loses significant power within Russia?
“We haven’t addressed the Armageddon perspective since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis.”
He added: “I don’t think there is the ability to (use) a tactical nuclear weapon easily and not end up with Armageddon.”
During the 1962 crisis, the United States under President John Kennedy and the Soviet Union under Nikita Kruschev came close to using nuclear weapons due to the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba.
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What is a tactical nuclear weapon?
US officials have warned in recent months about the prospect of Russia using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine after numerous strategic setbacks on the battlefield.
Putin has repeatedly hinted at the use of his country’s vast nuclear arsenal.
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Last month, when he announced plans to recruit Russian men to serve in Ukraine, He said: “I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction … and when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal”.
With a lingering gaze at the camera, he added: “It’s not a bluff.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday that Putin understood that “the world will never forgive” a Russian nuclear attack.
“He understands that after using nuclear weapons he would no longer be able to preserve his life, so to speak, and I am confident,” Zelenskyy said.
