What is Russia's military doctrine for deploying tactical nuclear weapons? - DW News

[Rhiannon12866]

Earlier this month, Russia announced that it had plans to carry out tactical nuclear weapons exercises near the Ukrainian border. On Tuesday, Russia’s military began these drills in the Southern Military District for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The Kremlin says the exercises are in response to Western military officials threatening deeper involvement in the war in Ukraine. - Aired on 05/22/2024.

[jaxexpat]

1. As we observe the march to nuclear warfare, we should pause to confirm the fact...........

that the United States' traditional posture on this has been perverted by the pro-Putin wing of the Republican party. Republican propaganda in support of Russia's aggression has confused our national consensus of America's long-term interests regarding an all-out nuclear war and subsequent planetary collapse. Worse, the propaganda condemns our own steadiest hand to be, illogically and falsely, the unreliable actor.

Folks, by playing its Trump card, the involuntary servitude suicide of unregulated capitalism has fearlessly mindlessly brought our collective asses to the edge of the universe.

[Rhiannon12866]

2. And this is an essential reason why TFG can never return to the White House, access to the nuclear football

And classified documents!

[jaxexpat]

3. Him, and all the irresponsible and unreliable mental midgets who carry his clubs........

in furtherance of their own nation-crippling careers. Will this Cro-Magnon throw-back culture of misery cease its reign of terror amicably and soon or will we be stuck with the interminable snail's pace of evolution?

[Voltaire2]

4. US military doctrine included use of tactical nukes.

I don’t know if it still does, but our forces in Europe included tactical weapons that would be used if Soviet forces overran our defenses.

[dutch777]

5. Officially most US nukes were pulled from Europe decades ago except for about 200

and those are in old line NATO countries, probably most in England as 100 are air deliverable which would probably be for our B-1s and other strategic air assets based there. But behind that, air or submarine /naval weapons could be shifted fairly quickly to be in range of the NATO theater. Bigger question is not available nukes, we have plenty, but rather if Russia uses nukes on Ukraine to break the stalemate, what is our response strategy? Certainly we support Ukraine, but they are not a NATO member and the automatic engagement trigger of Article 5 does not exist for them. There were "assurances" of protection provided to Ukraine by the US in 1994 when they broke out of the Soviet Union and voluntarily dismantled the nuclear stockpiles they inherited from the Russians, but what exactly does that mean?

I am a bit amazed that Russia would take the step of nukes before trying something they are masters of first and which we would have a hard time countering without it being us that trips the nuclear red line. Russia has a significant capability and training of using chemical weapons in combat. While blowing holes in the lines with nukes is quick and effective, chemical weapons, while a bit harder to control and not 100% as certain as nukes, could easily disrupt Ukrainians defenses in large areas to allow a fast moving Russian armored breakthrough. Perhaps the Russians realize that while they may make the hole, and get through it, their logistical capabilities could quickly get maxed out and they'd have a salient filled with tanks and troops they could not continue to supply or even adequately defend once the Ukrainians have regrouped. In my years serving in NATO n the Cold War, it was not nukes I feared, but chemical weapons.