“We need to talk smart when we talk about these things,” the French President stressed, commenting on Joe Biden’s statement about a nuclear “Armageddon” after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Russia’s threats to use nuclear weapons in the armed conflict in Ukraine pose a risk of “apocalypse” for the world, for the first time since the Cuban missile crisis at the height of the Cold War.

“We haven’t faced the prospect of an apocalypse since its [Αμερικανού πρώην προέδρου Τζον] Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Mr. Biden said in a 1962 New York midterm fundraiser. He also warned that his Russian counterpart was “not joking” when he made such threats.

“For the first time since the Cuban Missile Crisis, there is an imminent threat of the use of nuclear weapons if everything goes the way it is now,” the White House resident said.

Putin’s statements

Amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive backed by Western military aid, Vladimir Putin raised the possibility of using nuclear weapons on live TV on September 21. He said he was ready to use “every means” in Russia’s arsenal to confront the West, which he accused of wanting to “destroy” his country. “This is not a bluff,” he added.