Biden says risk of "Armageddon" highest since Cuban Missile Crisis as tensions rise with Russia
CBSN
President Biden said Thursday the risk of "Armageddon" is at the highest level since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, as Russian officials allude to the possibility of using tactical nuclear weapons after suffering massive setbacks in Ukraine.
"We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis," Mr. Biden said at a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
"We've got a guy I know fairly well," he later said of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "He's not joking when he talks about the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons, or biological or chemical weapons, because his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming."
Zhytomyr, Ukraine — Exactly 1,000 days after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, Russia's defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces on Tuesday of firing six U.S.-made and -supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian region of Bryansk. If confirmed, it could be the first time Ukrainian troops had taken advantage of President Biden easing restrictions over the weekend on Ukraine's use of the U.S.-made missiles to strike targets deeper inside Russian territory.
President Biden's decision to allow Ukraine to fire U.S.-made and supplied missiles deeper into Russia — a major policy shift announced over the weekend after months of intense lobbying by Kyiv — has drawn a furious response from Moscow. While there was no immediate reaction directly from the man who launched the nearly three-year war on his neighboring nation, lawmakers aligned with President Vladimir Putin in Russia said Monday that the move was unacceptable and warned it could lead to a third world war.
Tel Aviv — After more than a year of bombing and homelessness, Gazans are looking to a new administration in Washington for help. President-elect Donald Trump's election victory has raised hopes and fears among the five million residents of the Palestinian territories — the warn-torn Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.