Comments by "Tim Smith" (@timonsolus) on "Russia plans nuclear drill on Ukraine's Border" video.

@grog5564 : Nuclear missile failure is a much more serious issue than a conventional missile failure. My guess (pure speculation) is that Russian nukes produced in the last 20 years will be well maintained, while the old Soviet produced nukes aren't maintained at all and are now unserviceable. So, the number of fully operational nuclear weapons Russia has will be much closer to 600 than the widely publicised 6,000.
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@RobC1999 : Yes, he has 2 daughters. But he might think he can get away with using a small tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, without triggering a nuclear war with the USA.
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@Pure_Malevolence : I agree, NATO’s response to a Russian use of a tactical nuclear weapon would not be nuclear but conventional. I’d expect a NATO No Fly Zone over Ukraine at the very least, with NATO air forces carrying out the same kind of operations over Ukraine as they did over Bosnia in the 1990’s. NATO ground forces may become involved in Ukraine as well, although that would be tricky politically with the public frightened that Russian nuclear weapons could be used against them. Another likely response is a NATO attack on the Russian Black Sea fleet, sinking as many ships as possible.
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Stealing a nuclear weapon is pointless because you can't steal the arming code, which is transmitted from Moscow at the last moment in the firing sequence. A nuclear weapon that doesn't explode when it lands is useless. That's why Ukraine willingly gave up the nuclear warheads that it inherited from the USSR, because the Ukrainians had no way of arming them.
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@mig7290 : If you’re suggesting that the USA goes for a full nuclear war against Russia because it probably has a lot more operational nuclear weapons than Russia does, and therefore would ‘win’ the nuclear war, then you’re completely insane. Even 600 Russian nuclear weapons are more than enough to destroy Western civilisation.
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