US President Joe Biden has warned that Russia would be making an incredibly serious mistake if it uses a tactical nuclear weapon against Ukraine.
In response to a question on whether Russia was preparing to deploy a “dirty bomb” or a nuclear weapon, Biden told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, “Let me just say: Russia would be making an incredibly serious mistake if it uses a tactical nuclear weapon.”
“I'm not guaranteeing you that it's a false-flag operation yet; I don't know. But it would be a serious, serious mistake,” Biden said, PTI reported.
The Biden administration had earlier said Russia had given notice that it intended to stage routine drills of its nuclear capabilities amid simmering tensions over the war in Ukraine.
Ukraine's nuclear energy operator earlier also claimed its neighbour was performing some secret work at Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the President was clear about what he said. She further said that though the US had not seen Russia make any preparations on those lines, it will continue to monitor the situation “very, very closely”.
“He said it again today. It would be a major mistake for Russia to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, leading to severe consequences. As for the potential use of a dirty bomb, look, Russia is pushing transparently false allegations,” she claimed.
“You heard me say that. You heard my colleague over at the State Department say yesterday that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory. We are calling that false, false allegations by Russia. So, we must take this seriously. In the past, we have seen Russia use allegations as a pretext to escalate,” she said.
Jean-Pierre also warned Russia of consequences and said that the US has communicated directly with the country over the matter.
On being asked about peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, she said it was up to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to negotiate and that he will make that decision for his country.
Earlier, Zelenskyy had said that it was "hard to say" whether the risk of nuclear war had increased, but expressed confidence that his Russian counterpart would not survive such an escalation.
He further quipped that Putin understood very well that the world would never forgive him for a nuclear strike. "He understands that after the use of nuclear weapons he would be unable anymore to preserve, so to speak, his life, and I’m confident of that," Zelenskyy said.
(With inputs from agencies)