Biden warns world would face ‘Armageddon’ if Putin uses a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine

Joe Biden has warned the world could face a "doomsday" if Vladimir Putin uses tactical nuclear weapons to try to win the war in Ukraine.

The U.S. president made his strongest statement yet about the threat of nuclear war at a Democratic fundraiser in New York, saying the world was close to a nuclear catastrophe in 60 years.

"We haven't faced the prospect of doomsday since the Kennedy and Cuban missile crises," he said.

Ukraine

"We have someone I know very well," Biden said, referring to the Russian president. "When he talked about the possible use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons, he wasn't kidding because his military, you could say, was way below par."

Putin and his officials have repeatedly threatened to use Russia's nuclear arsenal to prevent the United States and its allies from backing Ukraine and helping it resist a full-scale Russian invasion that began in February.

One concern is that he might use short-range "tactical" nuclear weapons to try to thwart a Ukrainian counteroffensive and force Kyiv to negotiate and cede territory.

If Russia uses nuclear weapons, it will leave the United States and its allies in a dilemma about how to respond, and most experts and former officials predict that if Washington retaliates militarily, it will likely try to use conventional weapons to avoid a rapid escalation of an all-out nuclear war. But Biden said late Thursday, "I don't think there's an ability to just [deploy] a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up in Armageddon."

"If things really continue like this, we're going to be in danger of nuclear weapons since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis," the president said. "We're trying to find out what Putin's withdrawal is? He Where does he find his way out? Where does he find himself not only losing face, but power?"