Putin said on Wednesday that he would use nuclear weapons in his war with the Ukranian government.
According to experts, the Russian president's warning is a sign that the military is faltering.
On Wednesday, more than seven months into the war, Putin announced a partial military deployment in order to address Russia's manpower problem. The president accused the west of threatening to use nuclear weapons and responded with an acknowledgment of Russia's own nuclear arsenal.
"If you allow yourself to make such statements about Russia, I would like to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and for some parts more modern than those of the NATO countries," he said.
If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will use all the means at our disposal to protect it. This is not a lie.
Simon Miles is an assistant professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy and a historian of the Soviet Union and US-Soviet relations.
The poor performance of Russia's military on the battlefield in Ukraine has reminded us that any claim to great power status Russia may have is predicated almost entirely on its arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Putin's message is directed at the Ukrainians.
"Putin has tried and failed many times to break the resolve ofUkraine's supporters, and his latest threats are no different," he said. He is starting to understand how limited his military options are in this war.
One of the biggest victories of all time was achieved by the Ukrainians earlier this month, when they launched two concurrent offensives in the northeast and south. Russian troops fled as the country's military buckled under the pressure of the Ukrainians, according to reports.
Robert English is a professor at the University of Southern California who studies Russia, the Soviet Union, and Eastern Europe. The Ukrainian fighting spirit and the American arms industry are working together to stop Putin.
The West's continued military support to Ukraine is bad news for Russia. Thanks to US and UK intelligence, strategy and weapons, the country's most recent offensive was possible.
The pressure on Russian forces will only grow if the west is supplying more and better weapons.
The US and other Ukrainian allies shouldn't turn and run because of Putin's threat.
Making threats is one thing, but putting these weapons to use in a way that serves the Kremlin's goal is something else.
He said that a demonstration of a nuclear weapon by Russia would be unlikely to break the will of the West. Russian soldiers fighting in the country would pay the price if they used a weapon in Ukraine.
Russia is unlikely to use nuclear weapons even if it were to use them. The prospect is low-risk due to the logistical aspects.
He said that Russian nuclear weapons are located in shelters across the country. The process of transitioning to readiness would generate a lot of observable phenomena for U.S. intelligence and an opportunity for Washington to make it explicit to the Kremlin just how bad an idea that would be.
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