President Joe Biden on Tuesday said US defence officials have already been planning potential American responses to a Russian attack on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant or the use of a low-yield nuclear weapon by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Mr Biden told CNN host Jake Tapper there have been “discussions” of what the US and Nato would do if Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the use of a nuclear weapon on the battlefield for the first time since 1945, but said it would be “irresponsible” for him to publicly discuss “what we would or wouldn't do”.
