Biden Says Russian Use of a Nuclear Weapon Would Be a ‘Serious Mistake’

WASHINGTON — President Biden renewed his warning to President Vladimir V. Putin on Tuesday that it would be an “incredibly serious mistake” to use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, reflecting the increasingly urgent concern in Washington and among Western allies that Russia may be searching for a pretext to unleash such a weapon.
Mr. Biden said that he was still uncertain if Russia was trying to put together a “false flag operation” in which it would detonate a dirty bomb and blame the Ukrainians. A dirty bomb is not a nuclear weapon, but an improvised device that uses conventional explosives to spread radioactive material.

Putin’s Army Facing ‘Irreversible’ Defeat’

Former U.S. generals say Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s army in Ukraine may be near “irreversible” defeat, according to comments they made on Sunday.
“No amount of shambolic mobilization, which is the only way to describe it, no amount of annexation, no amount of even veiled nuclear threats can actually get [Putin] out of this particular situation,” said retired Army General David Petraeus on ABC News on Sunday. “He is losing, and the battlefield reality he faces is, I think, irreversible.”