Russia - threadbanned users in OP

I believe that Putin will not go nuclear, not because of the west or NATO (although they will factor in his plans of course) but because his friends, China, N-Korea and Iran do not share his Genocidal / suicidal plans, not by a long shot! To such an extent that if they even suspected that Putin was planning such a move, they would take him out. Because in effect, he would be attacking them too. Radioactivity is no respecter of borders or armies As a matter of fact, they (at least China) most likely have plans for Putin's future (or lack of it!! ) Nuclear weapons or not.

Oh, I'd say that Xi, the Ayatollah and Kim Sung are fully aware of Putins mental state, not to mention all those closest to him, and who for sure do not share his suicidal plans either. It takes more than one to push the nuclear button, even in Russia.

UAF are busy

And this

He wouldn't go nuclear unless he felt like he had absolutely no other choice. Putin is a man who enjoys the trappings of power, and wouldn't be willing to give all of that up unless he thought death was imminent anyway. Far more than the political alliances of the countries which border Russia, Russia's greatest insurance policy against direct attack is its vast stock of nuclear weapons.

I think it was professor Michael Clarke who said that in the event of a nuclear exchange, the US/NATO wouldn't just target Russia, but they would target Putin . Putin could never be sure, either, that the US/NATO wouldn't have intelligence on where his hiding places in Russia where, so the concept of pushing the button and then hunkering down would be fraught.

But, again, even if he survived, he wouldn't have much of a world to emerge back into.

No sense in it from any angle other than figuring his world was about to end anyway.

British military intelligence are always saying Crimea is the key. If Ukraine can force Crimea back or put enough pressure to get it retaken then it'll be such a calamity for Putin that his own people will take him out.

There's a whole coastline to defend and it won't be easy for the Russians.

Depends on what you mean by "democratically elected", if you consider blowing up 3 apartment buildings in Moscow, and attempt to destroy a fourth, killing more than 300 people, and injuring as many more, democratically elected. then fair enough. And by the same token, do you think how he has held on to power since as being the democratic will of the people, then Good Luck to you. Buy personally, I wouldn't be inclined to grant him any protections that might apply to a genuinely elected President. The sooner he shuffles off this mortal coil, the better for Humanity.

I don't think the Kerch bridge is as influential to RuZZian logistics as it once was. They seem to have more options available following previous Ukrainian attacks on the bridge where they got caught short .

Kharkiv could have been a Russian military intelligence job to pull Ukrainian forces away from the South from a build up for Crimea. Whatever it is. Still going ahead and seemingly successful hits tonight on very expensive Russian hardware.

It could be the other way around: Ukraine has previously said that re-taking Crimea was one of their primary objectives, and they've been steadily degrading the Russian presence there for quite some time. They've had a presence on the far side of the Dnipro now for almost as long as the Russians held Kherson, and last week, they recaptured another chunk of the estuary.

Given that the GUR said they were aware of the Russian plan to step up their offensive in the Kharkiv region, perhaps the Ukranians judged that that would leave Crimea more exposed and set about taking advantage; or at the very least decided that making a move on Crimea/the southern front would be a very efficient way of taking the pressure of Kharkiv. Especially if they've got their hands on a good supply of new munitions.