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The US fears that Russia may escalate the war after Ukraine’s successes.
Joe Biden sends a stark warning to Putin about any plans to deploy nuclear bombs or chemical weapons.
– Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, he says in a television interview.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on Ukraine’s successful counter-offensive around Kharkiv over the past week.
– If the situation continues to develop like this, the response will be more serious, Putin said at an international conference in Uzbekistan.
Now fears are growing in the US that a straitened Putin may escalate the war as compensation for the losses. The New York Times reports citing a dozen sources in the White House, Pentagon and US intelligence.
According to the newspaper, the US outlines several possible scenarios:
check More indiscriminate bombing of Ukrainian cities.
check Attempt to assassinate high-ranking Ukrainian leaders.
check Russian attacks on arms supply hubs in Poland and Romania, both NATO members.
CIA Deputy Director David S Cohen aired his concerns publicly on Friday.
– We must not underestimate that Putin sticks to his original goal of controlling Ukraine. We must not underestimate his willingness to take risks.
Biden’s warning to Putin
In an interview with CBSwhich airs in its entirety on Sunday, US President Joe Biden is asked what he would say to Putin if he were to consider using chemical weapons or tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
– Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it, says Biden emphatically, adding that it would mean warfare not seen since World War II.
On the reporter’s follow-up question about how the US would respond, he is deliberately unclear.
– Do you think I would tell you if I knew exactly what it was going to be? Of course I’m not saying that. It will be consequential.
Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov gave a brief response on Saturday after Biden’s outburst.
– Read the doctrine, everything is in it, he said to state-controlled news agency Ria.
According to the Russian nuclear doctrine, nuclear weapons can be used if the existence of the Russian state is threatened or in response to an attack with weapons of mass destruction against Russia.
In his first speech when the invasion began on February 24, Putin made indirect nuclear threats to the outside world. At the same time, he put the country’s nuclear forces on high alert.
Since then, however, Peskov as well as Foreign Minister Lavrov and Defense Minister Shoigu have toned down the rhetoric and stated, among other things, that no weapons of mass destruction will be used in Ukraine, writes Newsweek.
Zelenskyy pressures Biden
According to the New York Times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing the US to get the ATACMS missile system. It has a range of over 30 miles and would give Ukraine the ability to launch high-precision robots into Russia or into occupied Crimea.
Zelensky states that he sees ATACMS as a central part of a more comprehensive counter-offensive early next year.
But Biden resists.
– We are trying to avoid World War III, he often tells his advisers, according to the NY Times.
So far, Biden’s tactic has been to increase support for Ukraine gradually, not through decisive single moves that could provoke Putin. New York Times informants are convinced that Russia would have responded harshly if Ukraine had been given everything they now have access to at once.
According to the Pentagon, ATACMS is not needed to strike targets that are “relevant to the current battles”. Instead, Ukraine has had to make do with the Himars artillery system. It has so far destroyed more than 400 Russian ammunition depots, command centers and radar facilities, the newspaper writes.