Russia’s false accusation that Ukraine has biological and chemical weapons is a “clear sign” that a desperate Vladimir Putin is considering using them himself, Joe Biden has said, The Guardian reported.
The US president said Putin’s “back is against the wall and now he’s talking about new false flags he’s setting up including, asserting that we in America have biological as well as chemical weapons in Europe – simply not true. I guarantee you,” Biden said at an event on Monday.
“They are also suggesting that Ukrainehas biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine. That’s a clear sign he’s considering using both of those.
He’s already used chemical weapons in the past, and we should be careful of what’s about to come.”
Putin “knows there’ll be severe consequences because of the united Nato front,” he said, without specifying what actions the alliance would take, according to The Guardian.
The remarks echo previous comments by officials in Washington and allied countries, who have accused Russia of spreading an unproven claim that Ukraine had a biological weapons program as a possible prelude to potentially launching its own biological or chemical attacks.
Biden spoke after the Pentagon said it had seen “clear evidence” Russian forces were committing war crimes and that it was helping collect evidence. Last week, the US president said he thought Putin was a “war criminal”, as well as a “murderous dictator” and “thug”, comments the Russian foreign ministry said were “unworthy of a state figure of such a high rank” and risked rupturing US-Russian ties.
The UN’s international court of justice has already ordered Moscow to halt its invasion, and a prosecutor at the international criminal court has launched a war crimes investigation, The Guardian reported.
On Monday night, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy again urged direct talks with Putin, saying: “Without this meeting it is impossible to fully understand what they are ready for in order to stop the war.”
He also said his country will never bow to ultimatums from Russia and cities directly under attack, including the capital, Kyiv, and Mariupol and Kharkiv would not accept Russian occupation, according to The Guardian.
