U.S. Brushes Off Putin’s ‘Nuclear War’ Threat; Ukraine Says Russian Election in Occupied Regions ‘Illegal’

The White House said it had no reason to adjust the U.S.′ “nuclear posture” after comments by Russian President Vladimir Putin Wednesday in which he said his country was “technically” ready for nuclear war.

In other news, Russian-installed officials at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine accused Ukraine’s armed forces of shelling critical infrastructure at the plant on Thursday.

On Thursday, officials at the site said the plant had been shelled and that an explosive device was dropped into an area where tanks with diesel fuel were located, adding that the action could have had “dire consequences.”

Russia has occupied the plant since March 2022, with the nuclear facility being a focal point of tensions and skirmishes between Ukrainian and Russian forces. CNBC was unable to verify the latest claims.

Kremlin defends Putin’s nuclear war comments, saying there’s no threat

The Kremlin defended comments made by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in which he said Russia was “technically” ready for a nuclear war, and was ready to conduct nuclear tests if the U.S. did so, saying the remarks did not constitute a threat to use them.

The remarks, published in pro-Kremlin media Wednesday, echoed previous comments Putin has made about Russia’s nuclear arsenal, saying Russia would only consider using them if the country’s existence was under threat. The White House responded that it saw no reason to adjust its own “nuclear posture” after the comments.

Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said Thursday that Putin was just answering questions from Russian journalist Dmitry Kiselev, and that the comments had been distorted by the Western media.

“Putin did not make any threats about the use of nuclear weapons in this interview. He answered, firstly, the journalist’s questions, and these were precisely the journalist’s questions, and not some special statements,” Peskov said, according to comments published by news agency RIA Novosti and translated by Google.

“And the president was just talking about the reasons that could make the use of nuclear weapons inevitable. These are the reasons that are indicated in our relevant documents, which are well known throughout the world,” he added.

“This is a deliberate distortion of the context and a reluctance to listen to President Putin. Again, there is nothing new in this. This is what we are very focused on [and have] observed for a long time and especially in the last two years,” Peskov said. Moscow has repeatedly criticized what it sees as a “Russophobic’” Western media since it invaded Ukraine two years ago.

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