Ukraine war: Biden says Putin considering using chemical, biological weapons
- Biden warns of a ‘severe’ Western response if Russia uses such weapons in Ukraine, which was invaded on February 24
- The number of Ukrainians fleeing abroad is more than 3.5 million, the UN’s refugee agency said Tuesday, with 6.5 million internally displaced
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday residents should brace for more indiscriminate Russian shelling of critical infrastructure, as US President Joe Biden issued one of his strongest warnings yet that Moscow is considering using chemical weapons.
Russian troops have failed to capture any major Ukrainian city more than four weeks into their invasion, and are increasingly resorting to causing massive destruction to residential areas using air strikes, long-range missiles and artillery. The southern port of Mariupol has become a focal point of Russia’s assault and lies largely in ruins with bodies lying on the streets.
Ukraine’s armed forces said in a statement Tuesday that Russian forces were expected to continue to attack critical infrastructure while President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated Ukraine would hold a referendum on the terms of any potential peace agreement and said his nation’s grain exports are being jeopardised because farmers cannot plant crops.
He also said he had spoken to the Pope and told him “about the difficult humanitarian situation and the blocking of rescue corridors”.
Without citing evidence, Biden said Russia’s false accusations that Kyiv had biological and chemical weapons illustrated that President Vladimir Putin was considering using them himself.
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,” Biden said at a Business Roundtable event.
“They are also suggesting that Ukraine has biological and chemical weapons in Ukraine. That’s a clear sign he’s considering using both of those.”
Biden reiterated that such an action would prompt a “severe” but so far undefined response from Western allies.
Putin “knows there’ll be severe consequences because of the united Nato front”, he said, without specifying what actions the alliance would take.
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Biden also told US businesses to be alert for possible cyberattacks by Russia. “It’s part of Russia’s playbook,” he said. On Tuesday the Kremlin rejected warnings about cyberattacks. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “unlike many Western countries, including the United States, Russia does not engage in state-level banditry”.
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Washington and its allies have previously accused Russia of spreading an unproven claim that Ukraine had a biological weapons programme as a possible prelude to using such weapons itself, but Biden’s remarks on Monday were some of his strongest yet on the subject.
Russia says it does not attack civilians although the devastation wrought on Ukrainian towns such as Mariupol and Kharkiv are reminiscent of previous Russian assaults on cities in Chechnya and Syria.
Biden to visit Poland this week to discuss Ukraine-Russia war
Putin calls the war, the biggest attack on a European state since World War II, a “special military operation” to disarm Ukraine and protect it from “Nazis”. The West calls this a false pretext for an unprovoked war of aggression.
Biden is due to travel to Europe this week for meetings with allied leaders to discuss tighter sanctions on Russia, on top of the unprecedented financial penalties already announced. Ahead of the trip he discussed Russia’s “brutal” tactics in a call with European leaders, the White House said.
Russia’s siege and bombardment of Mariupol port, which European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called “a massive war crime”, is increasing pressure for action.
But EU foreign ministers on Monday disagreed on whether and how to include energy in sanctions, with Germany saying the bloc was too dependent on Russian oil to declare an embargo.
On Tuesday German Finance Minister Christian Lindner said Ukraine will need a “Marshall Plan” similar to the one created by the US after World War II to finance reconstruction once Russia’s invasion ends.
“Our solidarity toward our European neighbours is for the long term and so we need an international Marshall plan for Ukraine,” Lindner told the lower house of parliament in Berlin. “We hope for peace soon but when it’s achieved we will also be there to offer support for the reconstruction,” he added.
The number of Ukrainians fleeing abroad is now 3,556,924, the United Nations’ Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday, with more than 2 million crossing the border into Poland.
“This is another tragic milestone for the people of Ukraine and it has been achieved in just under one month,” said spokesperson Matthew Saltmarsh, adding that 6.5 million people had also been internally displaced within Ukraine.
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Some, though, have managed to escape. About 8,000 were safely evacuated on Monday through seven humanitarian corridors from towns and cities under fire, including about 3,000 from Mariupol, said Ukraine’s deputy prime minister.
“We will try to carry out the evacuation until we have gotten all the inhabitants of Mariupol out,” Iryna Vereshchuk said in a video address on Tuesday.
The eastern cities of Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv have also been hard hit.
Ukrainian officials hope Moscow will negotiate a withdrawal. Both sides hinted last week at progress in talks on a formula which would include some kind of “neutrality” for Ukraine, although details were scarce.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Bloomberg, Associated Press
