Russia's Nuclear Threat to Ukraine and NATO is Very Real

Russia is making no secret of the fact that it is willing to use strategic nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and if need be, against all its backers as well. That’s a dramatic threat that ought to be taken seriously, given the fact that four regions in Ukraine will, by next week, be under formal Russian control.

By this time next week, Russia would have formally annexed captured regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, parts of Mykolaiv province, and Zaporizhzhia. That would bring these regions under the formal and legal control of Russia, and they would enjoy the protection of Moscow’s nuclear doctrine. So, any Ukrainian counteroffensive in these regions, would, in the eyes of Russia, qualify for a response involving strategic nuclear weapons.

Russia has the world’s largest nuclear arsenal. If Putin so wishes, he can unleash nuclear strikes across major Western cities in just over half an hour.