MSNBC's Joe Scarborough raised the alarm about the possibility of Vladimir Putin using chemical or nuclear weapons as his invasion of Ukraine continues to falter.
The "Morning Joe" host asked Pentagon press secretary John Kirby whether the Biden administration had a red line that would escalate the conflict from NATO's perspective, and the Department of Defense official cautioned against setting such boundaries.
"I think we need to be really careful, Joe, when we start talking about red lines and hypotheticals here," Kirby said. "The president was very clear that the international community would react strongly should Mr. Putin decide to use weapons of mass destruction. We haven't seen anything, any indication today, Joe, that that's in the offing or that's sort of eminent at all, and that includes the nuclear stuff. What I would tell you, we're very confident, very comfortable in the strategic posture that we have, not only for our homeland, but for our allies and partners."
"We're looking at this every day," Kirby added. "We're monitoring it, we're watching what he's doing. We haven't seen any indication of the use of WMD right now."
Scarborough wasn't convinced, saying that Putin had been escalating his aggressive rhetoric for years.
READ: Experts explain how Putin manipulates Russian media to sow 'sympathetic indifference' and skepticism
"The West has underestimated this guy since 2007, 2008," Scarborough said. "He keeps talking about nuclear weapons, he keeps talking about World War III. People keep talking about World War III and nuclear weapons. This would be -- the alarms are all going off. They're talking about the use of nuclear weapons in a way no leader has for the past 30, 40 years. This isn't really a hypothetical question, is it?"
Kirby agreed that rhetoric was concerning, but he didn't think alarmism was helpful.
"It's not helpful to international security to have him even talk about this or broach this," Kirby said. "For instance, accusing the Ukrainians of conducting a biological, chemical attack. It's the Russian playbook to blame others for that which you're preparing to do yourself. This is a concern to us, and that is why, Joe, quite frankly that we are working hard to make sure, get into the Ukrainian hands, the kinds of tools they need to defend themselves without further escalating this conflict. I think we can all agree that a broadening war here and an escalated conflict is not good for our security or Europe's security, but it's not good for Ukraine."
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