Ukraine war: Kyiv and Washington clarify leaders' nuclear remarks to calm fears
Here are Friday's the main developments related to Russia's war in Ukraine.
The White House has sought to clarify remarks by US President Joe Biden who declared that the risk of nuclear “Armageddon” is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre underscored that there are no indications "that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons".
She told reporters Friday the US has seen no reason to adjust its own strategic nuclear posture and that Biden was just showing "how seriously" he is taking Russian President Vladimir Putin's rhetoric.
Speaking at a Democratic fundraiser Thursday night, Biden warned that Putin was "not joking" when he talks about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.
He added that Kremlin-backed forces were "underperforming" and said the US was trying to figure out Putin's "off-ramp" from the war.
"We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis," Biden added.
US officials for months have warned of the prospect that Russia could use weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine as it has faced strategic setbacks on the battlefield, though Biden's remarks marked the starkest warnings yet by the US government about the nuclear stakes.
Still, Jean-Pierre underscored that nothing has changed in US intelligence assessments that in recent weeks have shown no evidence that Putin has imminent plans to deploy nuclear weapons.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s president says Volodymyr Zelenskyy would never ask NATO to launch a nuclear first strike to prevent Russia from unleashing its own nuclear arsenal.
Zelenskyy’s press officer Serhiy Nikiforov said on Friday the Ukrainian
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