Use of nuclear weapons unacceptable, German chancellor says

BERLIN

The German chancellor on Friday warned against the use of nuclear weapons in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“We need to give a clear answer to nuclear threats: They’re dangerous for the world, and the use of nuclear weapons is unacceptable,” Olaf Scholz told a news conference in Prague.

He made the comments in response to a question about US President Joe Biden’s warning that the world now faces the highest prospect of nuclear war in 60 years.

Scholz said that EU leaders discussed the latest developments during their informal meeting in Prague on Friday and reaffirmed their continued political, economic, and military support for Ukraine.

“From Prague, we’re giving a clear message: European states stand firmly alongside Ukraine. We will continue to support Ukraine to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he said.

Scholz also underlined that European states will never recognize Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s eastern territories last month after controversial referendums.

“For us, these sham referendums are null and void,” he stressed.

Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the specter of nuclear confrontation last month, warning that Russia will use all means to defend itself and emphasizing that he was not bluffing.

In an online address to an Australian think tank on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on NATO and the international community to take preemptive strikes in order to deter the use of nuclear weapons by Russia.

"So they know what will happen to them if they use it, and not vice versa – to wait for nuclear strikes by Russia," he said.

Zelenskyy’s spokesman later clarified that the president was talking about preventive economic sanctions.

Also on Thursday, US President Joe Biden warned that the world is on the precipice of a nuclear catastrophe for the first time since the Cold War.

“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since (President John F.) Kennedy and the (1962) Cuban missile crisis,” Biden told a Democratic fundraising event.

“I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon,” he added.