Putin risking ‘Armageddon’ with nuclear threat, says Biden

President Biden has said that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is now greater than at any time since the Cuban missile crisis in 1962, as Russia threatens to retaliate with atomic weapons after mounting setbacks in Ukraine.

Biden conceded that Putin was “not joking” as the Russian leader “talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons”.

“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” Biden said at a fundraising event for his Democratic Party in New York last night. The president said the threat that Putin could hit back with a nuclear strike in Ukraine was real, as the invasion stalls and Russian forces buckle under a Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south and east of the country.

 “His military is, you might say, significantly underperforming,” Biden told Democratic donors.

US officials said this week that they have seen no change in Russia’s stance that would affect America’s nuclear alert standing, but have warned for months that Putin could retaliate with weapons of mass destruction. A mobilisation of 300,000 new conscripts, as Putin orders new troops to the front, have led to widespread protests and Russian men fleeing the country.

Dissent and infighting among Russian military and defence officials has spilled into the open as frustration grows

“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 alluded to his country’s huge nuclear arsenal at several points during the eight-month invasion, and did so again when he announced the mobilisation last month.

“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 last month. “It is not a bluff.”

Biden warned last night that Russia’s use of a tactical nuclear weapon could quickly escalate into a catastrophic global confrontation.

“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,” Biden said.

Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said last week that the US had been “clear” with Russia about the consequences of using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

“This is something that we are . . . 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.