Ukraine news: France president Emmanuel Macron chides Joe Biden over ‘Armageddon’ call
France president Emmanuel Macron has taken Joe Biden to task over his talk of ‘Armageddon’, as critics of the US president accuse him of sleep walking into a nuclear war.
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France president Emmanuel Macron has taken Joe Biden to task over his talk of ‘Armageddon’ as critics of the US president accuse him of sleep walking into a nuclear war.
Biden warned ‘Armageddon” was at its closest since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis in a speech at a Democratic fundraiser in New York on Thursday, local time
Those comments came after Russia raged at Ukraine’s calls, during a speech to an Australian audience, for pre-emptive strikes.
“[Putin was] not joking when he talks about the use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons,” Biden said.
“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis.”
“I don’t think there is any such a thing as the ability to easily use a tactical weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”
From appearing to call for the assassination of Putin to seemingly commit to boots on the ground if China invades Taiwan, Biden has been accused by his Republican rivals of a series of foreign policy gaffes during his 18-month reign as the leader of the free world.
Biden’s loose talk, this time about the prospect of the war in Ukraine spiralling into a nuclear holocaust, appeared to upset the French leader, who pulled up the US leader over his comments.
“We must speak with prudence when commenting on such matters,” Macron, one of Biden’s closest allies, told reporters at the end of a European Union summit in Prague, Reuters reported.
White House officials said the administration had seen no indication Russia was preparing to use nuclear weapons, despite Biden’s comments.
“We have not seen any reason to adjust our own strategic nuclear posture, nor do we have indications that Russia is preparing to imminently use nuclear weapons,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One, Fox News reported.
Jean-Pierre defended comments made by the president in saying: “The kind of irresponsible rhetoric we have seen is no way for the leader of a nuclear-armed state to speak, and that’s what the president was making very clear.”
Meanwhile, the Biden administration bought $US290m ($A456m) of anti-radiation drugs this week.
The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said the supply of Nplate was part of “ongoing efforts to be better prepared to save lives following radiological and nuclear emergencies.”
The drug can be administered to minors and adults is “approved to treat blood cell injuries that accompany acute radiation syndrome [ARS] in adult and pediatric patients,” the department said.
Radiation sickness “occurs when a person’s entire body is exposed to a high dose of penetrating radiation, reaching internal organs in a matter of seconds,” tHHS release noted.
“Symptoms of ARS injuries include impaired blood clotting as a result of low platelet counts, which can lead to uncontrolled and life-threatening bleeding.”
Made in California, Nplate stimulates the body’s production of platelets “to reduce radiation-induced bleeding.”
RUSSIA RAGES AT AUSTRALIAN ‘PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKE’ ADDRESS
US President Joe Biden warned the risk of “Armageddon” was at its highest since the 1962 Cuban missile crisis as Russia raged at Ukraine’s calls, during an Australian speech, for pre-emptive strikes.
“Such statements are nothing other than an appeal to start yet another world war with unpredictable, monstrous consequences,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Speaking to Australia’s Lowy Institute this week via online video, the Ukraine president said NATO should launch preventive strikes to “make it impossible for Russia to use nuclear weapons”.
“What is important, I once again appeal to the international community … preventive strikes, preventive action, so that Russia would knew what would happen to them, and not waiting for the nuclear strikes first, and then say what’s going to happen to them.
“No, there’s a need to review the way pressure has been exerted.
“Don’t wait for Russia’s nuclear strikes and then say: ‘’Oh, since you did this, take that from us!’,” he added.
Ukraine attempted to walk back the rhetoric, with Zelensky’s spokesperson Serhii Nykyforov suggesting the president’s comments referred to “preventive sanctions”
“[Ukraine] would never call for the use of nuclear weapons,” Nykyforov added.
Presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak, meanwhile, told the Kyiv Independent that Zelensky was asking Australian listeners to remember Putin’s blackmail and to pre-emptively outline the consequences like “sanctions and military aid”.
Zelensky was responding to Lowy Institute executive director Michael Fullilove, a former adviser to Prime Minister Paul Keating, who asked what NATO should do to deter Russia from using nuclear weapons.
The risk of nukes in Ukraine has increased as Ukraine continues to make advances in its counteroffensive against Russia, with the White House looking for an “off-ramp” for Putin before needing to resort to tactical nuclear weapons to stave off defeat.
Speaking at the fundraiser in New York City, Biden added the nuclear threat was not a bluff because Putin’s army is “significantly underperforming”.
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Originally published as Ukraine news: France president Emmanuel Macron chides Joe Biden over ‘Armageddon’ call
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