President Joe Biden reiterated his belief that Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon against Ukraine could end in “Armageddon.”
The president, who first used the word in this context last week, argued in an interview on CNN Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “cannot continue with impunity to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon, as if that’s a rational thing to do.”
“I don’t think [Putin] will” use a nuclear weapon, Biden said. “The whole point I was making was it could lead to just a horrible outcome. And not because anybody intends to turn it into a world war or anything, but it just — once you use a nuclear weapon, the mistakes that can be made, the miscalculations, who knows what would happen?”
NATO WARNS RUSSIA: PUTIN WOULD ‘REGRET’ ANY USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS
The president was at a fundraiser last week when he warned that for the “first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have the direct threat of the use of a nuclear weapon if, in fact, things continue down the path that they are going,” adding, “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.”
Despite the warning, the White House has “not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday.
During the interview, Biden declined to specify what America’s response would be in the event Russia uses a nuclear weapon.
His comments follow Russia’s barrage of missile and rocket attacks in more than 15 cities, including the capital of Kyiv, on Monday that left roughly a dozen dead and a hundred more injured. The Russians launched 84 cruise missiles and 24 drone attacks, about half of which Ukraine was able to intercept, the Ukrainian General Staff said.
It was presumably in retaliation for an explosion damaging the Kerch Bridge that links Russia to the Crimean Peninsula, which the Ukrainian military celebrated but did not officially take credit for. Putin has threatened to keep these attacks up in addition to his frequent threat to use a nuclear weapon.
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The administration is “certainly interested in expediting” the delivery of key air defense systems to Ukraine, John Kirby, the National Security Council’s communications coordinator, said in a briefing with reporters on Tuesday. Specifically, it is trying to speed up the delivery of two National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems to Ukraine.
“We think that we’re on track to get those first two over there in the very near future,” Kirby said. “We are certainly interested in expediting the delivery of NASAMS to Ukraine as soon as we can.”
The president didn’t rule out meeting with Putin at next month’s G-20 Summit, and while he said he didn’t intend to meet with him, he acknowledged he could, depending on the topic. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Tuesday that Putin was open to such a meeting.
