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WASHINGTON: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that Russia could use nuclear weapons out of desperation as its invasion falters, echoing comments by CIA director William Burns.

Asked about the threat, Zelensky said “all of the world” should be worried that Russia “began to speak about… nuclear weapons or some chemical weapons.”

“They could do it, I mean they can,” he told CNN. “For them, life of the people is nothing… let’s not be afraid — be ready.”

Burns said Thursday that Russia’s battlefield setbacks raised the risk that President Vladimir Putin could deploy a tactical or low-yield nuclear weapon.

The Kremlin said it had placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert shortly after the assault began on February 24, but the United States says it has not seen any sign of unusual nuclear movements.

Russian military doctrine includes the “escalate to de-escalate,” principle of launching a small nuclear weapon to regain the initiative in the war.

US President Joe Biden is “deeply concerned about avoiding a third world war, about avoiding a threshold in which nuclear conflict becomes possible,” said Burns.

An elderly couple died in their home as they tried to evacuate a wildfire in Ruidoso, New Mexico, that has destroyed hundreds of houses and forced thousands to flee the mountain town, local officials said.

The remains of the couple were found on Thursday at their burned home in northeast Ruidoso after family members told police they attempted to evacuate but were unaccounted for, New Mexico State Police said in a statement.

The couple, who were not identified, were the first reported fatalities of the so-called McBride Fire that has destroyed 207 homes and burned 5,736 acres (2,321 hectares) since it started on Tuesday, according to local officials.

Fanned by spring winds gusting at up to 90 mph (144 kmph), the fire has torn through forested canyons dotted with homes.

Flames surrounded the town’s middle school on three sides on Tuesday as teachers and parents evacuated students, according to social media posts.

The fire burned within a few hundred feet of Ruidoso’s main street, and half a mile from the county hospital, before firefighters were able to block it on Wednesday.

Around 5,000 residents have fled their homes in the resort town in the Sierra Blanca mountains about 135 miles (217 km) southeast of Albuquerque, according to local officials.

“Firefighters have successfully held the fire from moving further into the town of Ruidoso at this time,” Laura Rabon, a spokeswoman for the Lincoln National Forest, told reporters.

Flames moved to the northeast on Thursday over largely unpopulated mountains and canyons. Wind gusts were expected to drop to 20 mph, aiding air attacks. Another blaze 10 miles (16 km) to the northwest known as the Nogal Fire burned six houses.

Like other southwestern states hit by climate change, New Mexico is suffering an early start to its fire season as blazes race through grassland, while tree-ring research in New Mexico’s Jemez Mountains shows forests have endured their worst drought in 500 years.

The group, which also includes Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Menendez, is making the latest in a string of visits by foreign politicians to the island in defiance of pressure from Beijing.

A US government plane touched down in Taipei on Thursday evening for what Washington’s de facto embassy said were talks on “US-Taiwan relations, regional security, and other significant issues of mutual interest”.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the group would meet President Tsai Ing-wen, foreign minister Joseph Wu and defence officials.

China’s Communist Party has never controlled self-ruled Taiwan but it views the island as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary. Those threats have become more bellicose under President Xi Jinping, making the security of Taiwan a rare subject of bipartisan support in Washington.

Menendez was among a group of lawmakers who introduced a bill in February to rename Taipei’s de facto embassy in Washington the “Taiwan Representative Office”.

That would be a diplomatic departure from the tradition of using the word “Taipei”.

Beijing baulks at use of the word Taiwan on the international stage and opposes any country having official exchanges with the democratic island.

Lithuania’s recent decision to allow Taiwan to use its own name for a representative office triggered Beijing to launch a trade war against Vilnius that has angered the European Union.

China’s foreign ministry warned the US senators against “going down on the wrong and dangerous path” ahead of their arrival.

Khan, 47, who represents the northern English city of Wakefield, said he would resign in order to “focus entirely on clearing my name”.

“While legal proceedings are ongoing, I do not believe that it would ordinarily be appropriate to resign,” he wrote on Twitter. “However, owing to long delays in the legal process, my constituents have already been without visible parliamentary representation for a year.

“Consequently I am resigning as MP for Wakefield and withdrawing from political life.” A jury found Khan, who has been kicked out of the Conservative Party, guilty of sexually assaulting the boy after forcing him to drink gin at a party in 2008.

The unnamed victim told the court he was left feeling “scared, vulnerable and numb” and that Khan applied “slow caressing” to his legs. Khan said he only touched the teenager’s elbow after he became upset during a conversation about his “confused sexuality”.

The victim said he approached the Conservative Party press office days ahead of the 2019 election that saw Khan elected to tell them what had happened but “I wasn’t taken very seriously”.

The sentencing in The Hague is one of the latest in a series of efforts by Europeans to bring people to account for crimes in conflict-torn nations, including Syria and Afghanistan — as eyes turn to Ukraine.

Abdul Razzaq Rafief “treated the prisoners cruelly and dishonourably and arbitrarily deprived them of

their liberty,” judge Els Kole told The Hague regional court, adding “these are war crimes”.

Rafief, 76, played a leading role in the abuse of prisoners at the Pul-e-Charkhi jail between 1983-88 “where he had effective command and control”, the judge said.

She said he was head of the prison during a period when Afghanistan’s communist regime was fighting a Soviet-backed war against mujahideen resistance fighters.

Thousands of prisoners were tortured and some executed, many of those who were seen as enemies of the regime, Kole said.

Rafief “was involved in the violence. He gave orders and knew what was happening in the prison and did nothing to stop his subordinates” from abusing inmates, the judge said.

This included a prisoner who was beaten up on Rafief’s orders “because he complained about the conditions in the prison.” Prisoners were held in three blocks at the jail, with the worst being reserved for political detainees and those with death sentences, the judge said.

The blocks were overcrowded and the prisoners covered with fleas and lice.

Medical help was almost non-existent, the judge said.

‘Deep, lasting scars’

Prosecutors said some were executed without trial and those who were brought before a judge only received a hearing “for show.” “Prisoners were in a cruel world and were being detained in inhuman conditions without any hope for the future,” judge Kole added.

“The suspect’s actions left deep and lasting scars,” on the victims, she said.

Dutch authorities started investigating in 2012 after blogs said the former commander of Pul-e-Charkhi was living in the Netherlands, where he was arrested in 2019.

He came to the Netherlands as a refugee in 2001.

Rafief, who previously attended in a wheelchair and was not present for the verdict, had told the court his trial was a case of mistaken identity.

But judges threw out the defence, saying that an Afghan driver’s licence, confiscated during his arrest showed that he was indeed the correct person.

He was also positively identified by numerous of the 19 witnesses in the trial.

“Even though it was a long time ago, there is no reason to doubt the reliability of these witnesses’ testimony,” Kole said.

Ahmed Faquri, 66, one of the victims who was present at the hearing said he was “relieved” when the sentence was read.

“One of the people who tortured me has been judged and sentenced,” he said outside the courtroom. “It doesn’t matter for how long. This is about recognition,” Faquri said. Rafief’s lawyer said he would appeal the sentence.

“We disagree on almost every point the judge mentioned in the courtroom,” Marijn Zuketto said.

The senior US official made this statement during a press briefing in response to a question from a journalist.

“Pakistan’s military spokesperson said they had no evidence to suggest that the United States had threatened or was involved in the conspiracy to seek the ouster of Imran Khan’s government. What are your comments on it?” the journalist had asked.

“We would agree with it,” Price said.

Military spokesman Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar had on Thursday tried to clear the air about the alleged foreign conspiracy behind Imran’s ouster and specifically mentioned that the National Security Committee (NSC) – which includes the army and ISI chiefs – did not use the word “conspiracy” in its statement on the “cablegate” unlike some political pronouncement by the PTI leaders.

Gen Iftikhar said the military’s stance on the cable was formulated after a thorough investigation by an intelligence agency.

The NSC, however, had noted that the message conveyed by a State Department official was tantamount to “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Price dismissed the accusations leveled by Imran, saying “there is no truth whatsoever to the allegations that have been put forward.”

“We support the peaceful upholding of constitutional and democratic principles, including respect for human rights. We do not support, whether it’s in Pakistan or anywhere else around the world, one political party over another,” he told the briefing.

The State Department official said the US supported broader principles, including the rule of law and equal justice under the law.

He also underlined that the United States looked forward to working with newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his government “to promote peace and prosperity in Pakistan and the broader region”.

Price said the relationship between the United States and Pakistan had been a vital one for the last 75 years. “You probably saw a statement that we released from the Secretary last night regarding the selection of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif,” he added.

A day ago, US Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken had also congratulated Shehbaz Sharif and vowed to continue its long-standing cooperation with Pakistan’s government.

Likewise, earlier this week, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby had insisted that the US had a “healthy military-to-military relationship with Pakistani armed forces”, hoping that “we have every expectation that will be able to continue to be the case”.

Cablegate

The controversy surrounding the no-confidence motion against the former premier Imran Khan took a dramatic turn when the embattled PM brandished a letter at a rally on March 27 — days before his ouster, claiming it contained evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” hatched to topple his government.

Imran had kept a mum about the contents of the letter when he first unveiled it, however, he spilled the beans days later by naming the United States when the exit of the government appeared imminent.

Imran’s allegation that the US spearheaded his exit from power was based on a cable received from Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Asad Majeed, in which he had reported about a meeting with Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Affairs Donald Lu.

Majeed had reportedly said that Donald Lu warned that Imran Khan’s continuation in office, who was set to face a vote of no confidence, would have repercussions on bilateral relations. The US was said to be annoyed with Imran over his “independent foreign policy” and visit to Moscow.

The Pentagon and the State Department have rejected the accusations, saying there was no veracity to it.

The National Security Committee (NSC), which includes all services chiefs as well as the head of Pakistan’s top intelligence agency, took up the matter on March 31 and decided to issue a “strong demarche” to a country that it did not name over what was termed “blatant interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan”.

It had also termed the interference “unacceptable under any circumstances” and said the language used in the communique was undiplomatic.