President Biden dismissed Russia’s doomsday saber-rattling saying the U.S. sees no indication Moscow is intent on using nuclear weapons in its assault on Ukraine.
Mr. Biden offered the assurance late Tuesday as he laid out a fresh round of lethal aid for Ukraine, including advanced medium-range rockets which he is set to announce Wednesday.
“I know many people around the world are concerned about the use of nuclear weapons,” Mr. Biden said in a New York Times guest essay. “We currently see no indication that Russia has intent to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, though Russia’s occasional rhetoric to rattle the nuclear saber is itself dangerous and extremely irresponsible.”
Mr. Biden said Moscow would face “severe consequences” should it employ nuclear weapons “on any scale.”
Western leaders have walked a fine line in providing lethal aid to Ukraine over concerns for further escalating the conflict and fear of being drawn into direct war with nuclear-armed Russia.
Moscow has on multiple occasions issued veiled threats that it was willing to use its vast nuclear arsenal since invading Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin placed Russia’s nuclear forces on heightened alert in late February in response to “unfriendly economic actions” and “aggressive statements” from Western countries just days after the war began and senior Russian officials have made subsequent threats as the war has dragged on.
On Tuesday, a Russian lawmaker threatened on state TV that Mr. Putin could destroy “the entire east coast of the U.S.”
“Four missiles and there’ll be nothing left,” Alexie Zhuravlev said, according to the British newspaper The Sun. “They think the mushroom cloud will be taller than a high rise. That mushroom cloud will be visible from Mexico.”
U.S. intelligence officials have warned that Mr. Putin has become more unpredictable and escalatory amid the war in Ukraine.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told the Senate Armed Services Committee in May that “the next few months could see us moving along a more unpredictable and potentially escalatory trajectory,” though she said Mr. Putin would likely only authorize a nuclear strike “if he perceived an existential threat to the Russian state or regime.”
Mr. Putin’s bluster has shown little signs of deterring U.S. weapons shipments to Ukraine.
Mr. Biden is set to announce a new $700 million aid package to Ukraine which includes the first U.S. shipment of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, along with advanced medium-range rockets which have a range of approximately 45 miles, White House officials said Tuesday.
Ukrainian officials have pressured Western leaders to send longer-range artillery as their forces face an onslaught from Russia in the eastern parts of the country.
The White House said Kyiv provided assurances that the new weapons will not be used to target Russians beyond Ukraine‘s borders.
“We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders,” an administration official said Tuesday.
The decision to send the medium-range rockets strikes a balance between the howitzers the U.S. previously provided and the longer-range rockets, which have a range of close to 200 miles and that American officials say could further escalate tensions between the U.S. and Russia.
The latest package will also include additional Javelin anti-tank rounds, helicopters, tactical vehicles, and spare parts.
The latest package will be the 11th round of U.S aid since the war began and the first package to dip into the $40 billion package approved by Congress in late May.
The U.S. has provided a total of $4.5 billion in lethal aid to Ukraine since the end of February.
Mr. Biden said the aim of sending lethal assistance to Ukraine is not to prolong the war or to inflict pain on Russia, but said the U.S. stands ready to continue arming Kyiv as the war drags on.
He also said that while the U.S. supports a diplomatic end to the war, it must be on Ukraine’s terms. He said the U.S. will not pressure Ukraine to make any territorial concessions.
“America’s goal is straightforward: We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression,” Mr. Biden wrote in Tuesday’s essay.
“Vladimir Putin did not expect this degree of unity or the strength of our response,” he said. “He was mistaken. If he expects that we will waver or fracture in the months to come, he is equally mistaken.”
-Mike Glenn contributed to this report.