Biden warns of 'Armageddon', Russia slams nuclear 'first strike' comments

US President Joe Biden has warned of the risk of nuclear "Armageddon" amid a persisting campaign accusing Moscow of planning to use nukes against Ukraine.

“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” Biden proclaimed in remarks on Thursday at a fundraising reception for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in New York.

He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of threatening to use nuclear, biological and chemical weapons to make up for his nation's "under-performing" army.

“We’ve got a guy I know fairly well,” said the US president of Putin, in extended remarks about the Ukraine conflict. “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 under-performing."

He made the remarks as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the US-led NATO military alliance should first launch preventive strikes against Russia, RIA news agency reported.

For months, US officials have repeatedly warned of the possibility of Russia using weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine. However, the officials conceded this week that they have seen no change to Russia's nuclear forces that would require a change in the alert posture of American nuclear forces.

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This is while the White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has stated that Washington has made it "clear" to Moscow about what the "consequences" of using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

Moscow blasts Zelensky's talk of preventive strikes

The Kremlin, meanwhile, slammed Zelensky's remarks of NATO's preventive strikes against Russia.

"Such statements are nothing other than an appeal to start yet another world war with unpredictable, monstrous consequences," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as quoted in the report.

In a discussion with the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, Zelensky insisted that strikes were necessary to preclude any use of nuclear weapons, but he did not elaborate on what type of strikes he had in mind, indicating potential use of nuclear armaments.

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Macron pledges French howitzers for Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday pledged that European countries would send more military hardware to Ukraine to help Kiev counter Russia, including more French Caesar-type howitzers.

"We are working indeed on several requests, with several members of the EU, including on new Caesars," Macron underlined.

Zelensky called on European governments to help Kiev's forces expel Russian troops "once and for all" while claiming that his country's military had recaptured swathes of fresh territory from Russian troops.

"The armed forces of Ukraine have liberated more than 400 square kilometers of the Kherson region since the beginning of October," southern army command spokeswoman Natalia Gumeniuk said in a briefing online.

She said that the recaptured territory was home to nearly 30 towns and villages that had been occupied by Russian forces for months.

Addressing a meeting in Prague of European heads of state, Zelensky called on Western capitals to supply his army with more weapons "to punish the aggressor".

He said Ukraine must fend off Moscow's invasion "so that Russian tanks do not advance on Warsaw or again on Prague".

US sabotage

Sweden's domestic security agency pointed out that its preliminary investigation into leaks from two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea confirmed they were caused by "detonations,'' and that the findings have "strengthened the suspicions of serious sabotage.”

The statement came amid growing suspicions that US was behind the sabotage against the Russian pipelines.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed pleasure last week over the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, hailing it as a “tremendous opportunity” to repel European Union states from Russian energy resources amid the upcoming winter cold.

Top US diplomat welcomes Nord Stream sabotage as ‘tremendous opportunity’

Top US diplomat expresses delight over the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, hailing it as a “tremendous opportunity” to break EU

Boasting on Friday that the US is now “the leading supplier of [liquefied natural gas (LNG)] to Europe,” Blinken said that in addition to shipping its own fuel to Europe, the US is working with European leaders to find ways to “decrease demand” and “speed up the transition to renewables."

“It’s a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy and thus to take away from [Russian President] Vladimir Putin the weaponization of energy as a means of advancing his imperial designs,” the US diplomat went on to claim.

With winter approaching, Blinken also stressed that Washington wants the EU member nations to use less fuel as the US has been trying for years to convince EU leaders to swap Russian gas for its LNG.

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