Russia

[steelbuttplate]

Do you think Putin has figured out yet that because of his venture, his war machine is just gonna get weaker, with no good replacements, with supply lines cut, no money because of sanctions, meanwhile fighting the best equipped Army since "shock and awe" with the weapons and money of 50 nations behind them and young volunteer replacement soldiers. No supply problems. Ukraine is inflicting major damage with drones, on Russian troops drunk on issued Vodka. They are encouraged to drink it to stay warm since they don't have food or winter clothes. Over 10,000 have surrendered to Ukraine thru a hotline number on leaflets dropped from drones, with instructions how to surrender during a fight. Ukraine is about to capture the ports in Crimea and take Crimea back too. Why doesn't Putin go the other direction, east, and capture Siberia from a few fur trappers and build a big new Russian city with those ice cream cone towers and 8 lane highways. He wouldn't have had 110,000 troops killed and lost billions of equipment in a futile war, that I think will be over soon. I'm watching ANKA news and 1-2 other Euro brodcasts on Youtube.

[Junk Yard Dog]

If backed far enough into a corner I believe the Soviets will use tactical nuclear weapons claiming that Ukraine's next move would be to cross over into Russia itself. They will justify the escalation by pointing out all the sophisticated weapons systems the west has given Ukraine, they will blame these for the failures of their own military, not the piss poor training and equipping of their soldiers. There is no way Putin and his pet military leaders can survive losing the Ukrainian war, they know it, and will do whatever they must to win it. When the first nuke goes off all bets are off as to what happens next.

[steelbuttplate]

If backed far enough into a corner I believe the Soviets will use tactical nuclear weapons claiming that Ukraine's next move would be to cross over into Russia itself. They will justify the escalation by pointing out all the sophisticated weapons systems the west has given Ukraine, they will blame these for the failures of their own military, not the piss poor training and equipping of their soldiers. There is no way Putin and his pet military leaders can survive losing the Ukrainian war, they know it, and will do whatever they must to win it. When the first nuke goes off all bets are off as to what happens next.

If he does that surely he knows he will contaminate 1/3 of his country with fallout and end up making that much of Russia a wasteland. Not to mention where the nukes hit, will be ruined. What good is captured contaminated land ?

[A1RADIOMAN]

If backed far enough into a corner I believe the Soviets will use tactical nuclear weapons claiming that Ukraine's next move would be to cross over into Russia itself. They will justify the escalation by pointing out all the sophisticated weapons systems the west has given Ukraine, they will blame these for the failures of their own military, not the piss poor training and equipping of their soldiers. There is no way Putin and his pet military leaders can survive losing the Ukrainian war, they know it, and will do whatever they must to win it. When the first nuke goes off all bets are off as to what happens next.

If he does that surely he knows he will contaminate 1/3 of his country with fallout and end up making that much of Russia a wasteland. Not to mention where the nukes hit, will be ruined. What good is captured contaminated land ?

Putin no longer cares about what use the land has , he just wants to try and save face in his fantasy world ,Don't matter what happens to anyone else. I am surprised he has not been taken out by one of his own ,then they take whats left and rule it.

[Junk Yard Dog]

The Soviets poisoned large swaths of their own territory during the Cold War while playing with atomic weapons, or poorly designed, built, and operated nuclear power plants. They seemed to accept this collateral damage as the cost of doing business, Chernobyl is the disaster that became widely known in the west, but was far from the only such disaster to happen. The current leadership was born, raised, and indoctrinated into that system of government. Not just as a low level nothing either, but a high ranking member of the party's enforcement arm. The sort who would break everybody else's toys if not allowed to play with them. The attitude of if I am going to crash and burn everyone is coming with me.

[Tula44]

The way Russia views casualties and losses is apparently different then how we here in the west view it. They can take a huge blow and almost take pride in it in a way because the supply of manpower appears to be never ending. In World War 2 the USSR had nearly 27 million civilian and military losses, compare that to the +100K casualties at the current time and they would view that as low.

Junk Yard Dog summed it up with his statement, "The attitude of if I am going to crash and burn everyone is coming with me".