WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden has urged his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin not to use nuclear or chemical weapons in Ukraine, where Russia’s military has recently suffered setbacks.
In an interview with the CBS channel broadcast on Sunday, an extract from which was broadcast on Saturday, Joe Biden is asked about the potential use of weapons of this type by the master of the Kremlin.
“Don’t do it. Don’t do it. Don’t do it,” he warns. “It would change the course of the war in a way not seen since World War II.”
The Ukrainian army pushed back Russian forces in the northeast of the country this week, putting pressure on Vladimir Putin to regain the initiative.
The Russian president warned that Moscow would react with more force if its troops were subjected to additional pressure, raising the threat of the use of unconventional nuclear or chemical weapons.
If so, the American response would be “substantial”, warned Joe Biden, without giving details. Russia “would become more of a pariah in the world than it has ever been,” added the American president.
(Report Timothy Gardner; French version Elizabeth Pineau)