US President Joe Biden has warned that if Vladimir Putin decides to use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, the world faces the prospect of 'Armageddon'.
The leader of the US made the comments at a fundraiser in New York on Thursday evening, saying that the world was the closest it's been to catastrophe for the last six decades.
He was referring to the Cuban missile crisis of 1962, when the US and the Soviet Union clashed over missile testing in the Central American country.
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Addressing the public and gathered media at the Democratic Party fundraiser, Mr Biden said: "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis.
"We’ve got a guy I know fairly well," Biden noted, referring to Vladimir Putin.
"He’s not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming."
There are fears of an all-out nuclear war if the Russians do decide to push the button - with the US still mulling over how they would respond, particularly with hopes of de-escalation.
Mr Biden noted: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.
“First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have the threat of a nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” the president said. “We are trying to figure out what is Putin’s off-ramp? Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself where he does not only lose face but significant power?"
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