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Joe Biden implores Vladimir Putin not to unleash nukes on Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has dropped hints he will escalate the Ukraine conflict. <i>Photo: EPA</i>

Vladimir Putin has dropped hints he will escalate the Ukraine conflict. Photo: EPA

US President Joe Biden has urged Vladimir Putin to not use tactical nuclear or chemical weapons following Russian forces’ setbacks in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s military drove back Russian forces in a lightning rout in the northeast of the country this week, putting Mr Putin under pressure from nationalists at home to regain the initiative.

Mr Putin has vowed to continue his invasion of Ukraine, despite the latest counteroffensive, and he has warned Moscow could ramp up its strikes on its neighbour’s vital infrastructure.

He noted Ukraine has tried to strike civilian infrastructure in Russia and “we so far have responded with restraint”.

“If the situation develops this way, our response will be more serious,” Mr Putin threatened.

Mr Putin also sought on Friday to assuage India’s concern about the conflict in Ukraine, telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi Moscow wants to see a quick end to the fighting and alleging Ukrainian officials refuse to negotiate.

‘We aren’t in a rush’

Speaking on Friday after attending a summit of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in Uzbekistan, Mr Putin said the “liberation” of Ukraine’s entire eastern Donbas region remained Russia’s main military goal.

“We aren’t in a rush,” the Russian leader claimed, adding Moscow had so far deployed only volunteer soldiers.

Some hard-line politicians have urged the Kremlin to follow Ukraine’s example and order a broad mobilisation to beef up the ranks, prompting a counter-plea from the White House not to include weapons of mass destruction in any bid to reclaim lost territory.

Mr Putin has warned that Moscow would respond more forcefully if its troops were put under further pressure, raising concerns he could at some point use unconventional means like small nuclear or chemical weapons

Asked what he would say to Mr Putin if he was considering using such weapons, Mr Biden said: “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. It would change the face of war unlike anything since World War II.”

Mr Biden said the US response would be “consequential”, but declined to give detail.

‘More of a pariah’

Russia “would become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been”, Mr Biden said. “Depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur.”

Russian government officials have dismissed Western suggestions Moscow would use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but it remains a worry for some in the West.

In a speech announcing the invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Mr Putin gave a veiled but unmistakable warning that if the West intervened in what he has called a “special military operation” he could use nuclear weapons in response.

“No matter who tries to stand in our way or … create threats for our country and our people, they must know that Russia will respond immediately, and the consequences will be such as you have never seen in your entire history,” he said, according to a Kremlin translation.

Other choices for Mr Putin could involve mobilising Russia’s reserves, who number about two million men, and pressuring Europe to strong-arm Ukraine into a truce with Russia, by freezing the region this winter by banning all energy exports.

-AAP

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