Russia’s Alleged Shortcomings Could Force Putin To Go Nuclear

The past week has delivered updates on the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. And if the information being given is correct, it appears the latter has been able to weather the Russian storm – something not all may have expected.

Particularly on the Kharkiv front, Russian troops were allegedly forced to leave towns they previously took control of. Moscow appeared to be living up to its billing – that was until the Ukrainian military made their moves with some help from Western allies.

And while the term “retreat” seemed pretty strong, Russia unsurprisingly belied these claims and said that all this was part of a pre-planned regrouping.

Unfortunately, that is now how some analysts see it.

"It's already clear that we underestimated the enemy. [Russian forces] took too long to react and the collapse came… As a result, we suffered a defeat and tried to minimise the loss by withdrawing our troops so they weren't surrounded," a military analyst said via Moskovsky Komsomolets.

Regardless, Russian bloggers have not been too kind about how the Russian military has handled the situation. And adding all these up, it all diverts to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Putin has never been known to accept defeat and may never will. But assuming that things do not go in his favor, what will he resort to?

For some, the worst-case scenario is seeing Putin resort to nuclear weapons to avert defeat.

"There is a direct threat of the use, under certain circumstances, of tactical nuclear weapons by the Russian armed forces," Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s military chief quipped.

For now, there are no signs that Russia is panicking, believing they are still on course of winning this war against Ukraine. So unless something dramatic happens indicating that Moscow is truly losing, Putin will play it by ear and is unlikely to admit defeat or make a u-turn, BBC reported.