Russia's invasion of Ukraine as grave as Cuban missile crisis, UK minister says

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has created a situation as grave as the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union brought the world to the brink of nuclear war, a senior British minister said on Tuesday.

Asked if the situation was on a par with the Cuban missile crisis, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: "I would agree with that analysis."

"I do think it's as serious a situation as that," Javid told BBC radio.

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The Cuban missile crisis erupted in 1962 when the Soviet Union responded to a US missile deployment in Turkey by sending ballistic missiles to Cuba.

• Asia