{"id":2602,"date":"2026-07-09T21:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=2602"},"modified":"2026-07-09T21:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T16:36:09","slug":"why-russias-nuclear-threats-arent-scaring-ukraines-allies-like-they-used-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=2602","title":{"rendered":"Why Russia\u2019s nuclear threats aren\u2019t scaring Ukraine\u2019s allies like they used to"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"zephr-anchor\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--block-placement _13j8zv42 _13j8zv40 duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<div class=\"duet--article--highlight _10sa9oml _1a70pe0\">\n<div class=\"_1a70pe6\">\n<ul class=\"duet--article--unordered-list _10sa9omi uyby7v0 pn04iq1 _1a70pe7\">\n<li class=\"uyby7v1\"><span class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">Ukraine is increasingly launching drone strikes deep into Russia and threatening Russian-annexed Crimea, both steps that many once feared would result in nuclear retaliation from Moscow.<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"uyby7v1\"><span class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">Vladimir Putin\u2019s nuclear threats aren\u2019t as effective as they used to be, in part because it\u2019s not clear what using a nuke would actually accomplish or whether it would be worth the risk. <\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"uyby7v1\"><span class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">The question now is whether Russia really has any \u201cred lines,\u201d or if there\u2019s still a point where Vladimir Putin could reach for the nuclear codes out of desperation. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">When did Ukraine\u2019s allies stop being scared of Russia\u2019s nuclear weapons?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">At this week\u2019s summit in Turkey, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/b5590af8-b60e-4270-90cf-862d0a5e28cd?syn-25a6b1a6=1\">NATO leaders strongly backed <\/a>Ukraine\u2019s growing campaign of strikes deep into Russian territory, primarily targeted at that country\u2019s energy infrastructure, meant to bring the costs of war home to Russian citizens and compel their government to stop the invasion. On one night this week, Ukraine <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/International\/dozens-ukrainian-drones-target-moscow-mayor-zelenskyy-vows\/story?id=134540012\">launched more than 400 drones<\/a> into Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">There was a time, not so long ago, when the prospect of strikes inside the borders of the world\u2019s biggest nuclear power would provoke warnings from the Kremlin about the catastrophic consequences of crossing Russia\u2019s \u201cred lines,\u201d along with hand-wringing from the US about the prospect of nuclear escalation. The prospect of direct combat between two nuclear powers was the reason the US resisted international calls to impose a \u201cno-fly zone\u201d over Ukraine back in 2022; made the Biden administration reluctant to provide long-range capabilities like HIMARS rockets, ATACMs missiles, and F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine; and then, after finally providing them, restricted their use to Ukrainian territory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">But now, as one western official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/f36a2f4a-c692-46fb-afd2-504372f83caa?syn-25a6b1a6=1\">put it to the Financial Times<\/a>, the sheer frequency of Russia\u2019s past nuclear threats during the conflict have \u201cdevalued the currency.\u201d Putin has been making notably fewer of these threats recently, even the attacks inside Russia have accelerated. Russia\u2019s \u201cred lines\u201d are now being crossed with stunning regularity. Ukrainian drones regularly strike not just military or industrial targets but <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/International\/dozens-ukrainian-drones-target-moscow-mayor-zelenskyy-vows\/story?id=134540012\">cities including Moscow<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">And since last year, the US has not only gotten out of the way but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/europe\/u-s-to-provide-ukraine-with-intelligence-for-missile-strikes-deep-inside-russia-ca7b2276\">has been providing intelligence<\/a> to facilitate this campaign. In Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, a campaign targeting key bridges and rail links <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cy06495y2lko\">has led to food and fuel shortages<\/a>. On the battlefield itself, the grinding offensive has been thrown into reverse; the Russians lost <a href=\"https:\/\/csis-website-prod.s3.amazonaws.com\/s3fs-public\/2026-07\/260701_Jones_Russian_Blood.pdf?VersionId=2ULVLyK7GKhvOEIvSN.IqoHj1Zks9c6Q\">roughly 400 square miles<\/a> of territory in April and May.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Russia has hardly given up, continuing to pound Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/07\/05\/world\/europe\/kyiv-ukraine-russia-attack-nato.html#:~:text=On%20Thursday%2C%20Russia%20pounded%20Kyiv,wounded%20more%20than%20100%20others.\">with missiles and drones<\/a>. But the fears of nuclear escalation seem to have notably diminished.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">\u201cWe repeatedly oversell the risk of escalation,\u201d said Maria Snegovaya, a prominent Russian political analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, at a panel discussion in Washington this week hosted by the Washington-based think tank the Quincy Institute. \u201cDuring the Biden administration, many said that if Ukraine strikes deep into Russia\u2019s territory, Russia will escalate,\u201d Snegovaya said. \u201cUkraine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/energy\/ukrainian-drones-hit-russias-largest-refinery-one-deepest-strikes-yet-2026-07-06\/\">now strikes into Siberia<\/a>, over 2,500 kilometers deep into Russia, and we don\u2019t see that escalation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">But does that mean Russia\u2019s leader was always bluffing, or, as a war he refuses to stop seems to turn against him, is there still a risk of Putin reaching for the launch codes out of desperation?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p><h2 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">Why hasn\u2019t Russia gone nuclear?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">There are a few potential reasons why Russia hasn\u2019t acted on its nuclear threats. For one, detonating a nuclear weapon so close to its borders carries risk of radioactive fallout reaching Russian territory. That\u2019s an experience Russia knows better than most countries; parts of Western Russia are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rferl.org\/a\/russia-bryansk-chernobyl-zone\/31452418.html\">still struggling with elevated radiation levels<\/a> decades after the Chernobyl meltdown in what was then Soviet Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment, also notes that Ukraine and its allies have managed escalation via \u201csalami slicing\u201d \u2014 gradually taking more and more aggressive steps, none of which seemed sufficient on their own, to warrant a truly catastrophic response from Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">\u201cIf, in some hypothetical world, it would have been possible to give Ukraine on day one, everything we ended up giving them by the end of the Biden administration, that would have been really escalatory,\u201d said Acton. The months of delay that seemed to precede every new weapons system and capability delivered to the Ukrainians understandably enraged Ukrainians \u2014 who have never taken Putin\u2019s threats particularly seriously and have watched some of their own cities razed to the ground with conventional weapons \u2014 but it may have helped prevent a far more destructive conflict.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Then there\u2019s the question of just what using nuclear weapons would accomplish. Much of the concern in Ukraine has focused on the possibility of Russia using so-called <a href=\"https:\/\/authory.com\/app\/content\/ad0302bf71eab4ab599eb8b70b0de51e2\">\u201ctactical\u201d nuclear weapons<\/a>, smaller warheads meant to gain a military advantage on the battlefield rather than destroy an enemy city. But on Ukraine\u2019s long, sparsely manned frontline, where much of the fighting is increasingly carried out by unmanned drones, there aren\u2019t many obvious targets for a tactical nuke. A nuclear blast would do little beyond irradiating parts of the \u201cnew Russia\u201d that Putin, after all, hopes to one day control.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">As far back as 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/f36a2f4a-c692-46fb-afd2-504372f83caa?syn-25a6b1a6=1\">the FT reported <\/a>that, according to Russian officials, \u201cPutin has already gamed out the possibility of using a nuclear weapon in Ukraine and has come to the conclusion that even a limited strike would do nothing to benefit Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">It remains possible to imagine a scenario where Russia uses nuclear weapons for strategic purposes, rather than tactical advantage. It could threaten to detonate a nuclear weapon, or actually detonate one, in a Ukrainian city, unless Kyiv agrees to cede the rest of the territory claimed by Russia. Some experts have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.russiamatters.org\/analysis\/escalate-deescalate-part-russias-nuclear-toolbox\">long argued<\/a> that Russia has an unofficial \u201cescalate to de-escelate\u201d strategy, under which it would use nuclear arms preemptively to force its enemies to back down.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">But that would be an extraordinarily risky and unprecedented move \u2014 even for Putin, who has seemingly backed down from the nuclear ledge before. At one point, in the fall of 2022, when Ukrainian forces were on the move in southern Ukraine and had a chance to break through toward Russian-annexed Crimea, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/03\/29\/world\/europe\/us-ukraine-military-war-wiesbaden.html\">US intelligence agencies believed<\/a> that the possibility of Russia using its nuclear weapons was as high as 50 percent. But the US, UK, and France all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ft.com\/content\/80002564-33e8-48fb-b734-44810afb7a49?syn-25a6b1a6=1\">warned Russia during the 2022 crisis<\/a> that they would respond with military force if Russia used a nuke. They made it clear the response would be limited to conventional weapons, but there\u2019s no guarantee it would stay that way.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">The messaging didn\u2019t only come from Russia\u2019s adversaries. Xi Jinping warned Putin that he would lose Chinese support if he used nuclear weapons \u2014 no small thing given Russia\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dw.com\/en\/china-russia-economy-trade-sanctions-iran-strait-of-hormuz-technology-oil\/a-77193402\">increasing economic reliance on China<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p><h2 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">Does Russia still have a nuclear breaking point?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Not everyone believes we\u2019re out of the woods, however. George Beebe, director of grand strategy at the Quincy Institute, is concerned that Ukraine\u2019s backers have become dangerously blas\u00e9 about the risk of escalation. \u201cIt is profoundly threatening to Russian national security when the impression arises in the West that Russia actually has no red lines, it will never retaliate, no matter what,\u201d he said at this week\u2019s panel. \u201cThat\u2019s an extraordinarily dangerous set of circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">He noted that Ukraine\u2019s attacks on Russia\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/analysis\/ukraines-drone-swarms-are-destroying-russian-nuclear-bombers-what-happens-now\">strategic bomber fleet<\/a>, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armscontrol.org\/act\/2024-07\/news\/ukraine-strikes-russian-early-warning-radars\">early warning radars<\/a> \u2014 both core elements of Russia\u2019s nuclear deterrence \u2014 raise the risks of retaliation. And, while Russia has not responded to the attacks on Crimea with nuclear force, it\u2019s significant that Ukraine is not actually currently threatening to retake control of the territory. Given the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/news\/worldviews\/wp\/2014\/12\/04\/why-putin-says-crimea-is-russias-temple-mount\/\">literally religious significance<\/a> with which Putin has imbued the peninsula and how central it is to his political legitimacy, he might resort to desperate measures to keep it. Back in 2022, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/investigations\/musk-ordered-shutdown-starlink-satellite-service-ukraine-retook-territory-russia-2025-07-25\/\">Elon Musk was so worried<\/a> about Russian nuclear retaliation over Crimea that he cut Starlink internet access to Ukrainian forces in southern Ukraine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Even if Putin himself rattles the nuclear saber less than he did early in the war, there are still voices in Russia calling for the nuclear option. In a <a href=\"https:\/\/eng.globalaffairs.ru\/articles\/road-to-victory-karaganov\/\">recent essay<\/a>, Sergey Karaganov, one of Russia\u2019s most prominent and well-connected foreign policy analysts, wrote that \u201cthe use of nuclear weapons is a great sin. But the de facto refusal to use them is an unforgivable, deadly, and criminal sin, because it paves the way for the expansion and escalation of the world war unleashed by the West.\u201d He called for starting with nuclear tests, followed by conventional strikes on military targets in Europe, followed by escalation to the \u201cnext level\u201d. He concludes that \u201ca nuclear war \u2014 God forbid \u2014 can be (easily) won, especially against a crowded and morally weak Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">For the moment, Putin appears to believe that, despite the extraordinary cost in lives and rubles of the ongoing war, he will eventually grind Ukraine down through sheer manpower superiority. If he feels Russia\u2019s situation is not actually that desperate, he may not feel it\u2019s necessary to resort to desperate measures. For one thing, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/national-security\/2026\/07\/putin-russia-ukraine-war\/687753\/\">it\u2019s not clear whether<\/a> Putin is receiving accurate information about how things really look on the battlefield. But if the war started worsening to the point it could not be ignored, and the chaos within Russia itself reached a level where he believed his regime was under real threat, that could change.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Notably, however, even Beebe said he is less concerned in the short term about Russian nuclear weapons use than in conventional attacks on NATO territory. This type of escalation is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2026\/07\/06\/poland-baltics-brace-russian-military-test-nato\/\">increasingly a concern<\/a> in the Baltic countries and Poland, and while not as grave a threat as nuclear war, wouldn\u2019t certainly pose an unprecedented test for NATO.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p><h2 class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup\">Nuclear war: What is it good for?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright once nearly gave then-joint chiefs chairman Colin Powell an \u201caneurysm\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-srv\/politics\/govt\/admin\/stories\/albright120896.htm\">by asking<\/a>, \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of having this superb military you\u2019re always talking about if we can\u2019t use it?\u201d Likewise, if it turns out that nuclear weapons are too risky for Russia to use even when its own capital is being attacked, one could ask: What\u2019s the point of having the world\u2019s largest nuclear arsenal?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">\u201cWe\u2019ve found out, by an absolutely terrible experiment, that nuclear weapons are pretty much unusable,\u201d said Pavel Podvig, an expert on Russia\u2019s nuclear forces at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">That\u2019s not to say that nuclear weapons have been a non-factor in this war. They\u2019re a big part of the reason why the US and other Western countries didn\u2019t send their own troops in to help Ukraine, and a big part of the reason why Russia has held off on direct attacks against NATO countries. (Unattributable acts of sabotage and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rusi.org\/explore-our-research\/publications\/commentary\/deterring-kremlin-grey-zone-aggression-against-nato\">other \u201cgray zone\u201d tactics are<\/a> another matter.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">But it\u2019s still notable that the world is currently witnessing the first protracted, high-casualty, conventional war involving a nuclear power in decades \u2013 one in which nuclear threats have been very much in play since the beginning. And yet, that power seems unwilling or unable to use its weapons. Coming at a moment of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/481880\/iran-france-nuclear-deterrent\">heightened concern over nuclear proliferation<\/a>, this could have implications far beyond this war for what role these weapons play in 21st century warfare and foreign policy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">For one thing, nuclear weapons may not be that much of a deterrent against conventional attacks, particularly those carried out by long-range missiles or drones. (Just ask nuclear-armed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/live\/2026\/06\/07\/world\/iran-israel-missiles\">Israel<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stimson.org\/2025\/four-days-in-may-the-india-pakistan-crisis-of-2025\/\">Pakistan<\/a>, both of which have been repeatedly attacked.) It may also turn out that just being a nuclear power doesn\u2019t automatically give you the ability to compel or coerce non-nuclear countries if they don\u2019t believe you\u2019re actually willing to use them. (Recall, also, President Donald Trump\u2019s threats in April to destroy Iran\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/politics\/484932\/trump-threat-war-crimes-electricity-bridges\">whole civilization<\/a>,\u201d which has not managed to keep Tehran in line.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"duet--article--article-body-component\">\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _10sa9omi itxwjq1 itxwjq0 pn04iq1\">The good news is that wars fought under the nuclear shadow may still be less likely to escalate to the nuclear level than we feared. The bad news is that, without that fear, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/world-politics\/2024\/1\/25\/24049551\/war-increasing-ukraine-gaza-sudan-ethiopia\">we may see more of those wars<\/a>. As this war demonstrates, you don\u2019t need nuclear weapons to kill hundreds of thousands of people.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ukraine is increasingly launching drone strikes deep into Russia and threatening Russian-annexed Crimea, both steps that many once feared would result in nuclear retaliation from Moscow. Vladimir Putin\u2019s nuclear threats aren\u2019t as effective as they used to be, in part because it\u2019s not clear what using a nuke would actually accomplish or whether it would&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/platform.vox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-2276868068.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&crop=0%2C6.6065840185948%2C100%2C86.78683196281&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}