Is Putin’s nuclear bluff real threat?

Answering a question from a state TV reporter about Ukrainian strikes on Russia, Putin said: «There was no need to use this (nuclear) weapon… and I hope it will not be needed. We have enough forces and means to bring what was started in 2022 to a logical conclusion with the result that Russia demands».

It is interesting to wonder what the Russian dictator meant when he spoke about the logical conclusion of his bloody war in Ukraine «with the result demanded by Russia». After all, Ukraine will never agree to capitulation disguised as «peace», and repeated attempts to intimidate Ukrainians and the Western world with nuclear weapons may no longer be effective.

Now the word is up to the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The whole world is watching how official Washington might react to such nuclear statements. Perhaps NATO and the West, even without the involvement of the U.S., should supply Ukraine with conventional missiles capable of striking Moscow? Every time Russia strikes Kyiv, there must be a response.

It’s worth noting that during the Russia-Ukraine war, Muscovites remain the most influential citizens of Russia. And only when they personally experience all the «benefits» of its consequences will the population of Moscow abandon their role as passive observers.

So far, this war is perceived by them as nothing more than a TV picture of events happening somewhere far away. Therefore, everything must be done to make them feel the full consequences of this so-called «special operation» firsthand.

Periodic nuclear threats can backfire on Moscow with negative consequences. Putin risks losing credibility, which would be a big mistake. Never before has anyone cried «wolf» so often. By the way, in 2025 alone, he has already threatened nuclear weapons three or four times.

This intimidation shows that the Kremlin veteran is in despair. That’s why he tries to scare the world – to stop aid to Ukraine and leave it alone against the Russian Federation.

However, the cost of such nuclear madness for the Kremlin could be very high. Once the «nuclear genie» is out of the bottle, it will be impossible to put it back. And every country with nuclear capability may be tempted to test it in action.

Putin is a global evil that cannot come to terms with the existence of an independent Ukrainian state. And here we come to the question that could decide the fate of the Russian-Ukrainian war: How many functional nuclear warheads does the Russian Federation have today?

Serious Western military analysts have often suggested that since Russian military equipment was so poorly maintained and preserved after the collapse of the Soviet Union, nuclear warheads are unlikely to be an exception to this rule.

It is clear that Western intelligence agencies have information about how many warheads the USSR had in operational condition after the end of the Cold War. And since it is known that they were maintained on a minimal, residual basis – just like everything else in Russia – it cannot be ruled out that today most of them are simply a pile of radioactive waste.

Thus, it is possible to arrive at a realistic figure for the number of operational Russian nuclear warheads, the quantity of which is by no means thousands, or even hundreds in the best-case scenario for the Kremlin, but rather a meager handful of tens.

And if this is indeed the case, then Putin’s nuclear bluff should no longer work. Yet, throughout all the years of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States and Europe have been watching it closely – well aware that providing Ukrainians with measured military aid would not be enough to drive the Moscow invaders out of all our internationally recognized occupied territories.

At the same time, Russia cannot occupy all Ukrainian territories; otherwise, they would have done so long ago. The reality now is that the Russian Federation is losing in just a few weeks as many soldiers as the USSR did throughout its entire criminal invasion of Afghanistan.

Knowing Putin’s psychology – who deep down remains a streetwise thug from Saint Petersburg – it’s important to understand that he won’t dare to use nuclear weapons. After all, Moscow would suffer a retaliatory strike. And this Russian KGB «tsar» has no intention of leaving this life prematurely. So all that’s left for him is to nuclear bluff, searching for even more timid politicians in the West than he is himself.

A confirmation of this is that Putin is simply a coward. His staff constantly taste his food to make sure it’s not poisoned. The security forces of the Russian Federation protect him more than anyone else in the world, and his body doubles often take part in various public events to eliminate even the slightest possibility of an assassination attempt on this «valuable» eternal ruler for the Russians.

The despot has never visited the frontline; he meets with leaders of other countries usually from a great distance, and his closest entourage must undergo a lengthy quarantine before he even considers meeting anyone in person.

Putin has already openly equated the possibility of his mythical victory over Ukraine with the world avoiding a nuclear Third World War.

This message from the West can be decoded as: finally give me Ukraine to tear apart. Otherwise, humanity on planet Earth will simply cease to exist. The blackmailing ruler of a blackmailing state constantly appeals to Japan’s experience, which, after the United States dropped nuclear bombs on its territory, was forced to surrender. Moreover, the tyrant behaves as if Russia is the only country in the world that possesses nuclear weapons. But it’s not 1945 – it’s 2025, and the Russian Federation is far from the only one holding this deadly instrument.

Of course, no one would survive a nuclear winter – no one would live through it. But even limited use of tactical nuclear weapons by Russia against Ukraine could lead to several catastrophic events comparable to Chernobyl. And it’s by no means certain that the radioactive dust clouds after such an attack would settle over Ukraine or Europe, rather than over Muscovy itself.

The imperial revanchist Putin needs to be put in his place in Ukraine. He dangerously deludes himself into thinking he rules the Soviet Union at its peak, rather than the Russian Federation, whose economy has long been gasping for breath. Neither he nor his entourage will be able to hide away in bunkers. In that case, for Moscow, there simply will be no tomorrow.

Western leaders should respond clearly to such Putin threats – although Ukraine is not a NATO member, the use of nuclear weapons, even in their limited tactical form, will be considered an attack on one of the North Atlantic Alliance states. With all the devastating consequences for Russia that this would entail.