Ukraine war mega thread

[harrybarracuda]

First Noam Chomsky. Now Pope Francis, It seems increasingly I find myself in good company . At least as far as the Ukraine invasion opinion is concerned.

" Pope says NATO may have caused Russia’s invasion of Ukraine"
Pope says NATO may have caused Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – POLITICO

You too seem to have an affinity with paedophiles. Why is that?

[Buckaroo Banzai]

You too seem to have an affinity with paedophiles. Why is that?

That may be so, but it does not change facts as far as the issue at hand is concerned , which is not my sexual orientation.
But thank you for your concern .

[panama hat]

Now Pope Francis, It seems increasingly I find myself in good company

Nope, nothing of the sort:

Francis reflected on Russia’s lethal aggression toward its neighbor and said while he might not go as far as saying NATO’s presence in nearby countries “provoked” Moscow, it “perhaps facilitated” the invasion.
Francis also condemned the “brutality” of the war and compared it to Rw

[harrybarracuda]

Nope, nothing of the sort:

Who gives a fuck what the head kiddie fiddler says?

He's only worried about loss of revenue.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Nope, nothing of the sort:

He said : "Francis says transatlantic military alliance was ‘barking’ at Russia’s door. "
Which is what I have also said from day one , you may want to parse that any way you like, but every article reporting on the comment is parsing as "Pope says NATO may have caused Russia’s invasion of Ukraine " which is what I , Noam Chomsky and many others have also said.
It is important to notice the qualifier " may "

[pickel]

[OhOh]

, questions can be asked and fact can be checked

By this unbiased entity, I presume:

Shut Up, the Disinformation Governance Board Explained

The only way to overcome lies is with truth, and the government can’t be the arbiter of what that is.

Shut Up, the Disinformation Governance Board Explained - WSJ

First Noam Chomsky. Now Pope Francis, It seems increasingly I find myself in good company

I'll await the TD oracle, 'arry, to guide me on the road to ecstasy, before I accept another popish plot.

[OhOh]

they can exploit energy reserves

As opposed to POTUS's son.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

Who gives a fuck what the head kiddie fiddler says?

He's only worried about loss of revenue.

The newspapers seem to give enough of a fuck to publish his comments, though I was unable to find the publication of any of yours.

[sabang]

Excellent article OO- I've copied it for me 'Brave New World' thread where it belongs.

And anyone who implies that the current Ukraine war has "nothing to do with Nato" is either amazingly naive, or just being disengenuous.

[HermantheGerman]

If Russia would have a "Free Press" Putler could have never manipulated his election and never become dictator.

If Russia would have a "Free Press" there would be no war.

Simple as that!


F@ack this job

[Buckaroo Banzai]

If Russia would have a "Free Press" there would be no war.

If grandma had a dick, they will call her grandpa .

The US has a supposedly "Free Press" and we had plenty of wars. though I must admit our wars were just

[OhOh]

Germany seeks 35mm ammunition, otherwise SPAAG for Ukraine is useless

By Boyko Nikolov On May 2, 2022


"According to the Spaniards, Germany is urgently looking for 35mm ammunition from Brazil, Qatar, and Jordan: the countries that last bought the Gepard 1A2 SPAAG.

“If Germany cannot solve this problem quickly, Ukraine will probably have to reject the proposal,” Andriy Melnik, Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, said on Wednesday [April 27th]"

Germany seeks 35mm ammunition, SPAAG for Ukraine is useless

No ruling from the:

Disinformation Governance Board

to confirm its accuracy, as of today.

[harrybarracuda]

The newspapers seem to give enough of a fuck to publish his comments, though I was unable to find the publication of any of yours.

There are a lot of media god botherers out there that have let the cancer that is the catholic church operate with impunity.

That's nothing to fucking crow about.

[harrybarracuda]

Excellent article OO- I've copied it for me 'Brave New World' thread where it belongs.

And anyone who implies that the current Ukraine war has "nothing to do with Nato" is either amazingly naive, or just being disengenuous.

Or simply isn't part of your idiotic four wanketeers pro-Puffy circle jerk.

[Buckaroo Banzai]

There are a lot of media god botherers out there that have let the cancer that is the catholic church operate with impunity.

That's nothing to fucking crow about.

Though I have no love lost for the catholic church , or any other church or religious institution, I am glad to see that you have no problem with my answer to your question, which if I remember correctly was "Who gives a fuck what the head kiddie fiddler says? " to which in effect answered " All the newspapers who are reporting it" unless you want to argue that newspapers publish shit that nobody cares about.
But in the spirit of being agreeable, I will concede to you that intellectuals such as Nom Chomsky or Pope Francis could not posible measure up to the vast intellect of some of those who support your position such as trump, or Tucker Carlson.
Politics do indeed make strange bedfellows.

[OhOh]

NATO weapons transports in Ukraine are legitimate targets — Russian defense chief

4 May, 16:41

Sergey Shoigu also pointed out the Russian Armed Forces will continue to carry out tasks set by the commander-in-chief

MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/. NATO’s vehicles transporting weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Ukraine’s territory will be destroyed, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said at a video conference meeting on Wednesday.

"The United States and NATO allies continue to flood Ukraine with weapons. I would like to point out that we view all NATO vehicles that arrive in the country carrying weapons and supplies for the Ukrainian Armed Forces as legitimate military targets," he pointed out.

According to Shoigu, Russian troops participating in a special military operation in Ukraine "are showing courage and bravery, faithfully doing their duty and ensuring the safety of the people in Donbass." "The Russian Armed Forces will continue to carry out tasks set by the commander-in-chief," the defense minister added.

https://tass.com/defense/1446711?utm...rer=google.com

[misskit]

‘They Deceived Us at Every Step’: Troops Say Russia’s War Is in Shambles


Troops sent into Ukraine to back up Russian forces say they had no choice but to leave because Russian military was in shambles and “they deceived us at every step.”


Soldiers from the breakaway state of South Ossetia—speaking to South Ossetian leader Anatoly Bibilov at a meeting publicized by the independent news outlet MediaZona—rattled off a list of complaints about faulty equipment, lack of leadership and intel, and brainless tactics.


South Ossetia, which relies heavily on military and financial aid from Russia, sent troops to Ukraine in late March to “defend Russia.” Ukrainian military officials said at the time that some 150 South Ossetian troops were joining forces with Russia, but Tskhinvali never gave any official figures.


Many of the soldiers are said to be part of Russian military units based in South Ossetia; Moscow and Tskhinvali struck a deal in 2017 to partially incorporate their armed forces.


But reports soon surfaced of many of them refusing to take part in the fight, vowing not to become “cannon fodder.”


“Nobody got scared here, it’s just that they deceived us at every step,” one of the soldiers told Bibilov of their decision to abandon the fight.


“Of the 11 days [that we were there,] I wouldn’t even wish on an enemy what happened there. All the equipment didn’t work, I’m telling you straight… There was no command staff,” another soldier told the South Ossetian leader.


Out of 10 tanks, the first soldier said, only three fired. “The artillery mortar for the mortar-gunners didn’t work, the legs were all crooked,” he said.


“There was no command. And if the officers didn’t know what to do, what is the sergeant doing there?” another soldier was quoted saying.


He said “99 percent of the equipment” in another unit didn’t even work, but when the troops warned the senior in command that their vehicles didn’t work and their guns “did not fire,” he shrugged it off and said to just “go like that.”


In another case, troops complained of their commander “disappearing” every time fighting started.


“He was afraid of his own men. He made himself a security team out of a few of the guys. The commander refused to come out and talk to his own guys and was saying that he’d be beaten,” one soldier said.


Eventually, “some guys from spetsnaz [special forces]” really did beat him and left his “face all bloody,” he said.


They said the Russian troops never had backup plans, or escape routes. Another soldier said one of his wounded comrades in Russian-occupied Donetsk was getting no medical care.


“He says that the first day they bandaged him, but there’s still shrapnel inside him. He says his hand is very swollen, and nobody is doing anything, the doctors aren’t even coming to see him. He’s been there for five days, and the doctors are only asking him for money,” he said.


After hearing the soldiers paint a picture of such utter dysfunction, Bibilov asked the men directly if they believe Russia will lose the war.


One soldier spoke up: “Yes, we believe they will lose.”

‘They Deceived Us at Every Step’: Troops Say Russia’s War Is in Shambles

[Buckaroo Banzai]

“Nobody got scared here, it’s just that they deceived us at every step,” one of the soldiers told Bibilov of their decision to abandon the fight.

Finally, objective verifiable reporting.

[misskit]

South Ukraine Shows Signs Russia Has Come to Stay


A Russian military plane was flying in the skies over Berdyansk, a city in southern Ukraine, but no one took much notice.


"Nothing to worry about," said an older woman sitting on a bench in a small square on a sunny weekend afternoon. "It's one of ours."


Russian forces took control of this port city on the Sea of Azov in the first days of the military campaign they launched in Ukraine in late February, facing almost no resistance.


In the weeks since, it has been cut off from other parts of the country, as Moscow's troops and pro-Russian separatists battle to seize swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine.


AFP journalists were able to travel to Berdyansk, as well as the city of Melitopol about 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the west, as part of a press tour organized by the Russian army.

Controlling the two cities is of vital strategic importance to Russia because, along with Mariupol to the east, they would form part of a land corridor linking Russian territory to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.


In both cities, Moscow has installed local administrations in charge of bringing back a semblance of normal life and — they openly admit — laying the groundwork for a future with Russia.


"We are in a transition phase, from Ukraine to Russia," the head of the new administration in Berdyansk, Alexander Saulenko, told journalists in the city.


"We see our future with Russia."


Some steps are already being taken, with plans in the works to start paying public sector salaries and pensions in Russian rubles instead of Ukrainian hryvnia.


Short of funds to keep the city running, Saulenko said "we will turn to Russia for help."


'Divided city'
In Melitopol, a Communist banner was flying over the central Victory Square and Soviet-era patriotic songs blared out from the loudspeakers of a military truck.


Elsewhere in the city, it was the Russian tricolor flag on display.


AFP saw no traces of fighting or destruction in the two cities, a sharp contrast to the apocalyptic landscape of Mariupol only 70 kilometers (40 miles) east of Berdyansk.


"All the [Ukrainian] troops left the city" before the arrival of Russian forces, said Svetlana Klimova, a 38-year-old former petrol station worker in Berdyansk.


"If they had stayed, it would have been like Mariupol."


Several residents in the city expressed their relief at having escaped Mariupol's fate, and some were enthusiastic about the Russian presence.


"When I heard [about the Russians' arrival], I was so happy I had tears in my eyes," said Valery Berdnik, a 72-year-old ex-dockworker with a big gray mustache.


He said other cities in Ukraine, like the southern regional capital Zaporizhzhia or Kharkiv in the northeast, "should become Russian."


With Russian soldiers patroling the streets and sometimes listening in on interviews, it was hard to imagine anyone expressing much opposition to Moscow's presence.


But there were signs that not everyone in Berdyansk shares Berdnik's enthusiasm, with Saulenko admitting that the city's population has fallen to between 60,000 and 70,000, from more than 100,000 a few months ago.


In Melitopol, "the city is divided," said Elena, a 38-year-old schoolteacher walking the streets in a pair of big sunglasses, a cross-shaped earring in one ear.


"There are some who are happy, and some who criticize the situation," she said.


Melitopol's mayor Ivan Fedorov was famously detained and held for several days by Russian forces in March, and eventually left the city.


Several demonstrations took place early on against the Russian presence, but they have now stopped, another Melitopol resident said.


Skating and weddings
Mariupol looms large in everyone's minds here. Olga Chernenko, 50, is one of several thousand residents who fled the city for Berdyansk.


Chernenko escaped at the end of March and now lives in a former Communist youth centre, where the television in the common room is tuned to a Russian 24-hour news channel.


She hopes to "go home by the autumn" if Russian forces manage to take total control of Mariupol, and thinks Berdyansk did the right thing by "surrendering without a fight."


"If we want to preserve lives, we cannot fight in the cities," she said.


Berdyansk and Melitopol may appear calm, but the queues in front of banks and currency exchange offices were reminders that the situation is far from normal.


"There is no cash, the bank machines don't work," said Klimova, who hopes "Russia will help by paying benefits and pensions."


Authorities in the two cities are keen to bring residents on side by returning as much normal life as possible.


In Melitopol, journalists were brought to the inauguration of a skating rink, where a few people skated briefly, then disappeared when the cameras were turned off.


In Berdyansk, it was the local marriage office, where weddings were again being celebrated, the first in a month.


Suddenly two loud bangs erupted: fireworks exploded, throwing confetti into the air. No one blinked an eye.

South Ukraine Shows Signs Russia Has Come to Stay - The Moscow Times

[misskit]

Russian military enlistment office torched with Molotov cocktails in revolt

Unrest has been reported across Russia, amid speculation Vladimir Putin will introduce ‘mass army mobilisation’.


Dramatic video shows a military enlistment office in the city of Nizhnevartovsk being struck with Molotov cocktails.


The CCTV footage shows seven devices thrown towards the building before huge explosions erupt.


The new video follows rumours that Putin may introduce enlistment to increase his numbers in the war against Ukraine.

The Molotov cocktails were reportedly directed towards the enlistment office’s waiting room.


In the clip, two protesters are seen running from the scene after the first explosion.


Russian newspaper Izvestia reported: ‘Fire damaged the door, and was extinguished by an attendant with an extinguisher.’

Computers and ‘a database of conscripts’ were also destroyed in the attack, reports BOL news.


There were no reported injuries.


Meanwhile, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov today has denied potential plans to announce a general mobilisation or declare all-out war.


He described the claims as ‘nonsense.’


British defence secretary Ben Wallace had said such moves may come on May 9, when Russia marks its annual Victory Day with a vast military display on Red Square.

VIDEO Russian military enlistment office torched with Molotov cocktails | Metro News

[bsnub]

Top Secret report delivered to President Joe Biden says that Vladimir Putin's top general was in southeastern Ukraine last week to spur Russian forces to complete their operations in Donbas, paving the way for a faster conclusion to the war.The report offers insight into the U.S. intelligence community's assessment of Putin's mindset after more than two months of war, speculating not only about the Russian president's frustration with the pace and state of progress on the ground, but also his increasing worry that western arms and greater involvement will bring about a decisive Russian defeat.

According to two senior military officials who have reviewed the report (they requested anonymity in order to speak about operational issues), it also speculates about the potential for Russian nuclear escalation.

"We've now seen a steady flow of [nuclear] threats from Putin and company," says a senior intelligence official. "It's almost to a point where Putin has achieved the impossible—transforming from madman into the boy who cried wolf—with each subsequent threat having less and less impact, even provoking mockery."

The official warns that from Putin's vantage point, though, deep dissatisfaction with the situation in Ukraine and fear of the west turning the tide might actually provoke a nuclear display of some sort—one intended to shock the west and bring a halt to the war. The supply of western arms is also now a serious game changer, resupplying Ukraine while Russia is increasingly constrained.

"Escalation is now a true danger," says the senior official.

A nuclear demonstration

When Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said last week that the ultimate American objective was to "weaken" the Russian state, most observers took the retired Army general's remarks as a shift in U.S. policy, one from merely supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia to using the damage wrought by the war—militarily, politically, and economically—as a way to bring down Putin and transform Russia.

"NATO is essentially going to war with Russia through a proxy and arming that proxy," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

But the strongest reaction came from Putin himself. "If someone decides to intervene into the ongoing events from the outside and create unacceptable strategic threats for us, they should know that our response to those oncoming blows will be swift, lightning-fast," he told Russian lawmakers in St. Petersburg. "We have all the tools for this—ones that no one can brag about. And we won't brag. We will use them if needed. And I want everyone to know this. We have already taken all the decisions on this."

What those decisions are remains a mystery to U.S. intelligence. But one of the U.S. senior intelligence officials tells Newsweek that there is speculation that the purpose of General Valery Gerasimov's trip to Ukraine was two-fold: to check on—and get a candid view of—the progress of the war, and to convey highly sensitive information to Russian generals there about what the future could hold, should the Russian position in southern Ukraine become even more dire.

"It's not exactly something that you say over the phone," the senior official says. "At this point, no one thinks that nuclear escalation will occur on the battlefield or originate in Ukraine. But if nuclear escalation occurs, they need to know what measures are expected from them during the shock period that the use of a WMD [weapon of mass destruction] would provoke. Do they attack? Do they hunker down and prepare for retaliation? Do they withdraw to Russia to defend the state?"

To date, much of the public speculation about escalation has to do with a Russian nuclear attack on the battlefield or even a nuclear strike against NATO (or even the United States itself). But inside observers worry more about an intermediary step, a demonstration of seriousness or a display of Moscow's willingness to "go nuclear." Such a display would be in accordance with formal Russian doctrine to "escalate in order to de-escalate": using nuclear weapons to shock the enemy into backing down.

Experts say that a Russian nuclear display could come in the form of a warhead being exploded over the Arctic or a remote ocean somewhere, or even in a live nuclear test (something not done by Russia since 1990). It would demonstrate Putin's willingness to escalate even further, but be a step below the declaration of a full-scale war.

"A demonstration attack is definitely part of Russia's repertoire," a senior U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) planner who is an expert on Russian forces tells Newsweek. "Does it make sense? Would it achieve its objective? Is it a war crime? Don't look at it through our lens. Think about it from Putin's. Back against the wall, no prospects of salvaging the war, the bite of economic sanctions. Shock might be what he needs to survive. It's counterintuitive, but he could get to the place where stopping the fighting is his priority, through any means necessary."

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland this past week told a Ukrainian media outlet that the U.S. and NATO were preparing for the possible use of Russian nuclear weapons. "Unfortunately, since the beginning of this conflict, we have realized that the [nuclear] threats posed by Putin should be taken seriously. Therefore, the United States and our allies are preparing for this development."

A senior U.S. defense official briefing the news media on Friday said that the Pentagon was continuing to monitor Putin's nuclear forces "the best we can" and so far saw no active preparations of a direct threat. He said Secretary Austin was being briefed "every day." So far, he said, Austin sees "no reason to change" the nuclear posture of the United States. The statement presaged the kind of tit-for-tat posturing that both sides might find themselves in, a kind of Cuban Missile Crisis that could in itself further escalate.

Is this how nuclear war starts?

When General Gerasimov arrived near Izium, Ukraine, last week to huddle with General Aleksandr Dvornikov, the newly appointed commander of the Donbas operation, the report on the state of the war was not good. Russian army progress on the ground continued to be slow or stalled, with Ukrainian forces not just effectively holding their line but pushing the Russian invaders back. Russian reinforcements were gradually reaching the Ukraine border, but one-third of the 90 or so battalion tactical groups (of some 1,000 soldiers each) were still on Russian soil. And the forces on the ground were steadily depleted—through soldier deaths and injuries, through equipment losses, through unreliable supply lines and through sheer exhaustion.

And while artillery and missile attacks along the front lines had indeed increased, the effects were far less than Russian planners projected. Air strikes, while still significant over the battlefield, were also less effective, the majority now being executed with "dumb" bombs due to Russia's exhaustion of its supply of precision-guided munitions. Moscow hasn't been able to accelerate production of new weapons due to supply chain clogs, largely the result of sanctions. This week, in a sign that those shortages were real, the first Russian submarine was used to launch long-range Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea, and Russian Onyx anti-ship missiles were used to attack a military airfield near Odesa.

Russia began its latest offensive in Donbas on April 18, but two weeks later it hasn't sorted out its supply lines. Ammunition, fuel and food are still not reaching the troops. What is more, the Russian medical system is overwhelmed and ineffective. Some 32,000 Russian troops are estimated to have sustained injuries so far in the war, according to U.S. intelligence projections. Russian authorities are afraid of provoking even more domestic unhappiness with the war.

Ukraine is increasingly and openly attacking and sabotaging military targets on Russian soil, further complicating the logistics situation. All through the war, Russian forces in Belarus and Western Russia have been immune to attack, with aircraft operating freely from airfields and missiles shooting from secure launch areas. At first, this built-in immunity was intended to avoid Belarus entering the war, and it was cautiously implemented to avoid further escalation.

"There were a couple of Ukrainian attacks on Russian soil in the first two weeks of the war," a U.S. military contractor working on the Pentagon air staff writes to Newsweek, "but the four key airfields in Belarus and the two dozen in Russia and the south were able to operate with no interference. But once the stalemate happened and Russia started attacking Ukrainian fuel supplies and ammunition sites outside the battlefield, Ukraine decided to escalate by attacking similar Russian sites. The Ukrainians don't have many weapons that can reach very deep into Russia, but they are succeeding in attacking some significant sites, weakening Moscow's prospects of sustaining a long-term campaign."

Though Putin told Russian legislators meeting in St. Petersburg this week that "all the objectives will definitely be carried out" in the war, U.S. military observers don't see how that can happen, given the country's performance so far and the difficulty of resupplying. They also wonder which objectives Putin is referring to. There has so far been complete defeat in the north; the prospect of regime change in Kyiv is zero; the offensive in Donbas is not going well; Mariupol was a two-month diversion and drain; and other than capturing most of Kherson state in the first weeks, the campaign has been a startling disappointment.

"Russia has now abandoned any goal of taking Kharkiv" (Ukraine's second largest city) as Ukrainian forces push them back, says the second senior U.S. intelligence official. "And it increasingly looks like their campaign in the west [in Mikolaiv, Odessa, and Dnipropetrovsk states] is more intended to pin down Ukrainian defenders, to prevent them from shifting to the front lines, than it is in conquering the regions."

In short, nothing Russia is doing is weakening Ukraine, puncturing its high morale or changing the calculus on the battlefield. Even the long-range attacks are failing.

"There have been attacks on railways, electrical power, storage and even airfields to impede Ukraine from receiving and moving western weapons," says the Air Staff contractor, "but even these strategic strikes have been ineffective. Weapons are scarce. Aircraft are in disrepair and continue to be vulnerable. More railroad lines are opening rather than closing."

The Russians are "trying to set the proper conditions for ... sustained offensive operations" the Senior U.S. Defense official told reporters Friday. The Pentagon is officially projecting a general mobilization inside Russia and a war that could go on for months if not years.

But the first senior U.S. intelligence official tells Newsweek, "I don't see it," saying that developments on the ground don't support the notion of a war that Russia can sustain. "I can see how, from Putin's point of view, the only option could be to shock NATO and the West into recognizing just how dire things are for them, that indeed the Russian state is threatened."

The official doesn't disagree with Austin's statement nor the Biden administration's approach. He just thinks Washington is underestimating how threatened Putin and his advisors feel.
"Gerasimov may have visited the battlefield to spur on the troops, but I hope he also sat down for many vodka shots, lamenting that Putin's war is a shit-show of epic proportions, and that Russia is the one responsible for this war's hellish fire."

https://www.newsweek.com/what-putins...report-1702801

[harrybarracuda]

Though I have no love lost for the catholic church , or any other church or religious institution, I am glad to see that you have no problem with my answer to your question, which if I remember correctly was "Who gives a fuck what the head kiddie fiddler says? " to which in effect answered " All the newspapers who are reporting it" unless you want to argue that newspapers publish shit that nobody cares about.
But in the spirit of being agreeable, I will concede to you that intellectuals such as Nom Chomsky or Pope Francis could not posible measure up to the vast intellect of some of those who support your position such as trump, or Tucker Carlson.
Politics do indeed make strange bedfellows.

I'm not sure if that's just a shit troll, or you are that dumb.

But Chomsky is a seppo hating intellectual snob, the Pope is a money grubbing paedophile apologist, Carlson is a bigoted fucking wanker and, well, baldy orange cunto.

That ought to give you a clue if you aren't as dim as you seem.

[David48atTD]

^ Good article ... well worth a read.

[David48atTD]

Dragging part of snubbs post (below) from the News thread to here for debate which probably can't happen in the News Thread.

So, the premise of the article was that a high ranking Russian General went to Ukraine to ... ?????

The speculation was to discuss what happened if things went more crap for the Russian Army, how to go up a notch and go nuclear.

To date, much of the public speculation about escalation has to do with a Russian nuclear attack on the battlefield or even a nuclear strike against NATO (or even the United States itself). But inside observers worry more about an intermediary step, a demonstration of seriousness or a display of Moscow's willingness to "go nuclear." Such a display would be in accordance with formal Russian doctrine to "escalate in order to de-escalate": using nuclear weapons to shock the enemy into backing down.

Experts say that a Russian nuclear display could come in the form of a warhead being exploded over the Arctic or a remote ocean somewhere, or even in a live nuclear test (something not done by Russia since 1990). It would demonstrate Putin's willingness to escalate even further, but be a step below the declaration of a full-scale war.

"A demonstration attack is definitely part of Russia's repertoire," a senior U.S. Strategic Command (STRATCOM) planner who is an expert on Russian forces tells Newsweek. "Does it make sense? Would it achieve its objective? Is it a war crime? Don't look at it through our lens. Think about it from Putin's. Back against the wall, no prospects of salvaging the war, the bite of economic sanctions. Shock might be what he needs to survive. It's counterintuitive, but he could get to the place where stopping the fighting is his priority, through any means necessary."