White House press secretary Jen Psaki provided no details Monday when asked what the United States is doing in terms of stockpiling iodine pills and other “protective gear” as Russia’s threat of a nuclear attack looms amid the war in Ukraine.
Reports surfaced over the weekend that the European Union is stockpiling potassium iodine tablets, protective suits, and other medicines as the U.S. and other Western nations have warned the global stage to be on the lookout for Russian chemical and nuclear attacks.
Psaki was asked Monday if the U.S. is “taking the lessons learned in the pandemic and,” similar to the European Union, “applying it to this challenge,” but she did not return a straight answer.
“It’s a good question. Let me check with our national security team and see if there’s any details I can get into,” she told reporters during Monday’s White House press briefing. “We are always prepared even as we aren’t making predictions at this point in time. I don’t have confirmation of that report by the Europeans, but I will check and see if there’s more to report out to all of you.”
Earlier in the briefing, Psaki also declined to say if the U.S. had verified reports that Belarus is contemplating letting Russian forces stage nuclear weapons along the country’s border with Ukraine.
“We don’t have any confirmation of those reports or suggestions,” Psaki noted. “Certainly that would be of concern to us.”
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You can watch Monday’s briefing in full below.
