Russia has practiced delivering a retaliatory nuclear strike

[UltraBudgie]

I doubt it will change the situation on the front line now.

I read that there's two reasons for this now, first to address North Korean forces who may be there and give them a bit of a bloody nose, and second to help hold at least a little of the Russian territory in the Kursk region that Ukraine gained this summer, the yellow bit on this map:



That seems to be the only leverage that Ukraine might have to bring Putin to the negotiating table, and I could understand why they would want to keep it. Obviously, Russia is going to keep its captured territory, but a negotiated surrender (they won't call it that) will help keep Zelensky away from the meat hook when remaining troops return. He's already thrown most of the potential domestic dissent into the grinder, so the inevitable civil war should be somewhat brief and he might actually be able to flee before Europe steps in and does their white knight thing in act III.

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2024/...strictions