Joe Biden on Armageddon risk

Russian RS-24 Yars ballistic missiles roll in Red Square during the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, Russia, June 2020. Pic: AP

President Joe Biden warned during a fundraiser on Thursday that the risk of nuclear "Armageddon" is at its highest point since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis due to the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use nuclear weapons to thwart Ukraine's attempt to retake territory that has been occupied by Moscow.

Following discussions among Russian officials about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons in the wake of severe failures in their eight-month invasion of Ukraine, Biden's warning was issued. Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, has also hinted about utilizing his nation's sizable nuclear weapons on numerous occasions.

At a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Biden claimed, "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis." He asserted that Putin's threat is valid because "his military is, you might say, severely underperforming."

U.S. officials have been expressing concern about the likelihood of Russia employing WMDs in Ukraine for months. 

However, officials claimed this week that they have not observed any modification to Russia's nuclear arsenal that would call for a modification to the alert state of American nuclear forces.

Using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would have "consequences," the United States has "been clear" to Russia about what those consequences would be, according to Jake Sullivan, the White House's national security adviser.