President Joe Biden’s comments this week suggesting Russia’s war in Ukraine could escalate to a nuclear “Armageddon” were not based on any new intelligence, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told ABC News on Sunday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats to defend newly captured territory in Ukraine raise concerns of nuclear war.
U.S. officials have not seen any “new indications” that Putin has decided to use nuclear weapons, nor have they “seen anything that would give us pause to reconsider our own strategic nuclear posture,” Kirby said on ABC’s This Week.
The remarks come three days after Biden compared the current situation to the Cuban missile crisis during a fundraising event, saying there was a “direct threat of the use” of a nuclear weapon if “things continue down the path they are going,” and suggesting such warfare could result in a nuclear “Armageddon.”
The Department of Defense clarified Friday that officials had not seen any fresh intelligence to suggest Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons “imminently.”
Biden’s comments reflect “the very high stakes that are in play right now” when “a leader of modern nuclear power” is willing to use “irresponsible rhetoric the way that Mr. Putin has” several times in recent weeks, Kirby said.
“We’re monitoring this very, very closely. And what I can tell you is that through all that process, we just simply haven’t seen an indication that Mr. Putin has either made a decision to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, or has done anything to get closer to that decision making process,” Kirby told ABC.
