(RepublicanWire.org) – On Thursday, at a Democrat fundraiser in New York City, President Joe Biden claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was “not joking” about his “potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons.”

Biden suggested the reason for Putin’s alleged willingness to risk a nuclear confrontation with the West is that “his military is, you might say, significantly underperforming.”

The president told Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee donors at James Murdoch’s house, “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

Biden on Friday, literally, ran away from reporters asking about his ominous warning that the US is on the brink of nuclear Armageddon with Russia over Ukraine.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre felt the need to clean up President Biden’s ‘Armageddon’ comment from Thursday night’s fundraiser speech.

“Russia’s talk of using nuclear weapons is irresponsible, and there’s no way to use them without unintended consequences. It cannot happen… We won’t be intimidated by Putin’s rhetoric,” Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters aboard Air Force One during President Joe Biden’s short flight to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he is to speak about the economy.

KJP also downplayed Joe’s talk of armageddon.

“We have not seen any reason to adjust our own nuclear posture, nor do we have indications they are preparing to use them, but Putin can de-escalate this at any time and there is no reason to escalate.”

In his September 22 speech to the United Nations, Biden condemned Russia, suggesting it stood as the chief threat to global peace. He characterized Putin’s previous warnings as “irresponsible nuclear threats.”

Biden stated, “A nuclear war cannot be won … and must never be fought.”

On September 21, Putin stated, “I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and for separate components and more modern than those of NATO countries.” Putin may have been referring to Russia’s hypersonic missiles, which can fly up to fifteen times faster than the speed of sound, its quiet-running submarines or its modernized nukes.

“When the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” he said.

Putin added, “This is not a bluff. And those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them.”

Putin’s emphasis that he was not bluffing was likely in reference to the following remarks made by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in March: “I think that the threat of nuclear war is a bluff. It’s one thing to be a murderer. It’s another to commit suicide. Every use of nuclear weapons means the end for all sides, not just for the one person using them.”

On Thursday, Zelenskyy told an Australian policy-focused think tank that NATO should “eliminate the possibility of Russia using nuclear weapons,” recommending “preemptive strikes, so that they’ll know what will happen to them if they use nukes, and not the other way around.”

Zelenskyy added, “Don’t wait for Russia’s nuclear strikes, and then say, ‘Oh, since you did this, take that from us!'”

Zelenskyy’s office later indicated that the Ukrainian president was not calling for a “preemptive” nuclear strike on Russia. Nevertheless, the Kremlin interpreted that to have been his meaning.

A Kremlin spokesman said Zelenskyy’s comments “are nothing but a call to start a world war,” which would result in “unforeseeable disastrous consequences.”

A subsequent statement from Zelenskyy’s office reiterated “only the terrorist state Russia can afford to blackmail the world with explosions … and hint at the use of nuclear weapons, and Ukraine will never make such calls.” The statement also indicated that “the US administration, together with its partners, is discussing a response plan in the event of the use of nuclear weapons by the Russian federation.”

The U.S. government is taking preparatory steps in the event diplomacy fails. On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services announced that it was purchasing a supply of the drug Nplate, which has been FDA-approved to “treat blood cell injuries that accompany acute radiation syndrome in adult and pediatric patients.”

Acute radiation syndrome occurs when a person’s “entire body is exposed to a high dose of penetrating radiation” — the kind resulting from a nuclear explosion or a dirty bomb. Nplate serves to reduce radiation-induced bleeding by stimulating the body’s production of platelets. The drug can reportedly be used in both adults and children.

Ukraine is similarly preparing in the eventuality that nuclear weapons are used in the war. Its capital city of Kyiv is readying evacuation centers and ensuring sufficient stock of potassium iodine pills are on hand. Such pills help protect against radiation absorption.