Biden: Nuclear Armageddon risk highest since 62 crisis

NEW YORK (AP) President Joe Biden said Thursday that the risk of nuclear Armageddon is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials speak of the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in the eight-month invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin was a guy I know fairly well and the Russian leader was not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.

Biden added, We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. He suggested the threat from Putin is real because his military is you might say significantly underperforming.

U.S. officials for months have warned of the prospect that Russia could use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine as it has faced a series of strategic setbacks on the battlefield, though Bidens remarks marked the starkest warnings yet issued by the U.S. government about the nuclear stakes. ADVERTISEMENT

It was not immediately clear whether Biden was referring to any new assessment of Russian intentions. As recently as this week, though, U.S. officials have said they have seen no change to Russias nuclear forces that would require a change in the alert posture of U.S. nuclear forces.Russia-Ukraine warEU leaders struggle to bridge gas price cap divideA quick look at the 2022 Nobel PrizesUN rights body agrees to appoint expert to scrutinize RussiaSweden seizes evidence at Baltic Sea pipeline leak site

We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have indication that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday.

The 13-day showdown in 1962 that followed the U.S. discovery of the Soviet Unions secret deployment of nuclear weapons to Cuba is regarded by experts as the closest the world has ever come to nuclear annihilation. The crisis during President John F. Kennedys administration sparked a renewed focus on arms control on both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Biden also challenged Russian nuclear doctrine, warning that the use of a lower-yield tactical weapon could quickly spiral out of control into global destruction.

I dont think there is any such a thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon, Biden said.ADVERTISEMENT

He added that he was still trying to figure out Putins off-ramp in Ukraine.

Where does he find a way out? Biden asked. Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?

Putin has repeatedly alluded to using his countrys vast nuclear arsenal, including last month when he announced plans to conscript Russian men to serve in Ukraine.

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, Putin said Sept. 21, adding with a lingering stare at the camera, Its not a bluff.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said last week that the U.S. has been clear to Russia about what the consequences of using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would be. ADVERTISEMENT

This is something that we are attuned to, taking very seriously, and communicating directly with Russia about, including the kind of decisive responses the United States would have if they went down that dark road, Sullivan said.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier Thursday that Putin understood that the world will never forgive a Russian nuclear strike.

He understands that after the use of nuclear weapons he would be unable any more to preserve, so to speak, his life, and Im confident of that, Zelenskyy said.

Bidens comments came during a private fundraiser for Democratic Senate candidates at the Manhattan home of James and Kathryn Murdoch. He tends to be more unguarded often speaking with just rough notes in such settings, which are open only to a handful of reporters without cameras or recording devices.

Miller reported from Washington.