Putin Isn’t Crazy Enough to Use Nukes. Or Is He?

In recent weeks, we have seen a curious dichotomy in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military approach to his war in Ukraine. With one hand, he is reaching for modern weapons of war: hypersonic missiles, cyberattacks and precision-guided munitions.

With the other hand, he is turning to the dictates of medieval warfare in encircling large cities and threatening to reduce them to rubble. He has in effect said to the heroic defenders of Mariupol, “Lay down your arms, and I will spare your homes and your spouses and children.” Predictably, the Ukrainians, who enjoy not only the moral advantage but increasingly the tactical one, have spurned his offer. So his cannons boom, his cruise missiles fly and the tally of his war crimes rises by the day.