President Joe Biden issued a warning about a potential nuclear “Armageddon” at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Thursday evening, saying, “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”
“I don’t think there is any such a thing as the ability to easily use a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” added the president.
It has been widely speculated that Russia could employ tactical nuclear weapons in an effort to turn the tide in its war of aggression against Ukraine. Russian forces have been pushed back toward their own border in recent days, causing observers to wonder whether Russian president Vladimir Putin may, in desperation, turn to weapons of mass destruction.
At the fundraiser, Biden called Putin “a guy I know fairly well,” and said Putin is “not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons” as a solution to his military’s underperformance.
Biden suggested that his administration was still searching for a solution that would allow Putin to save face without ceding too much to the Russian leader.
“Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?” asked the president rhetorically.
In a speech last month, Putin declared, “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,” before promising that it was “not a bluff.”