Russia Threatens War

From the Irish Mirror: Russia threatens to 'punish Europe severely' in nuclear Armageddon warning

A top Russian strategist has warned that Europe could face nuclear attack if Moscow suffers defeat in Ukraine

I haven't followed Russian rulers beyond Putin for a long time. I'm not familiar with how much power Russia's Council for Foreign and Defense Policy has, though it could be he is acting as a mouthpiece for the government.

Vladimir Putin's henchman, in charge of Russia's defence policy, has called on the country's leader to unleash nuclear weapons and 'punish Europe and the UK severely' for its support of Ukraine.

Sergey Karaganov, head of Russia’s Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, added that, if the UK and Nato's defence of Ukraine resulted in a victory for Volodymyr Zelensky, then Putin "would use nuclear weapons and Europe would be finished physically".

One thing I do know, is that Russia NEVER considered nuclear war unwinnable. The Soviet Union build blast and fallout shelters almost continuously from the 1960s on. Maybe it was from the late 1950s. That stopped for a while after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the Warsaw Pact, but started up again under Putin, shortly after he came to power in 1999. They never bought into Mutually Assured Destruction, accept that they never thought they had enough of an edge to win. Americans refuse to believe this. (It would mean we should be spending money on Civil Defense, not trains to nowhere, or sending hundreds of millions of dollars to countries that will launder it for us, and send back 10% for the Big Guy™)

Also Putin is reported to have cancer, so it's not like he has a lot to lose personally. He does have a family, namely children and grandchildren.