US President Joe Biden said in an interview on Tuesday that he did not think Russian President Vladimir Putin would use a tactical nuclear weapon in the war with Ukraine.
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When asked by a CNN anchor if he believed it would be realistic for Putin to use a tactical nuclear weapon, Biden responded: "Well, I don't think he will."
"I think he is a rational actor who has miscalculated significantly," the president said about his Russian counterpart shortly after Moscow's shelling of civilian targets across Ukraine marked an escalation in the seven-month conflict.
Biden added that while he believed Putin was rational, he had underestimated the ferocity of Ukrainian defiance.
"I think... he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, and that where he was going to be welcomed, and I think he just totally miscalculated," Biden said.
The president also left open the possibility of talks with Putin on the sidelines of the meeting of G20 nations in Bali scheduled for November, but stressed the meeting would be possible if the Russian leader wanted negotiations over releasing detained US basketball star Brittney Griner.
"If he came to me at the G20 and said 'I want to talk about the release of Griner,' I'd meet with him. I mean, it would depend," he said.
Last week, Biden warned of nuclear "Armageddon" following Putin's threats amid continued losses of the Russian army in the east of Ukraine.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
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