Not because of the vast devastation of such a device — but because of just how limited the damage could be in certain scenarios.
The advent of tactical nuclear weapons — a term generally applied to lower-yield devices designed for battlefield use, which can have a fraction of the strength of the Hiroshima bomb — reduced their lethality, limiting the extent of absolute destruction and deadly radiation fields. That’s also made their use less unthinkable, raising the specter that the Russians could opt to use a smaller device without leveling an entire city. Detonate a one kiloton weapon on one side of Kyiv’s Zhuliany airport, for instance, and Russian President Vladimir Putin sends a next-level message with a fireball, shock waves and deadly radiation. But the blast radius wouldn’t reach the end of the runway.
My thoughts in @washingtonpost w/ @Anthony_Faiola “I find it hard to imagine Putin accepting a military defeat without him trying to use nuclear weapons first,” Kroenig said. “I think he sees limited nuclear use as more attractive than defeat.” https://t.co/iLc4BKR7tl
— Matthew Kroenig (@MatthewKroenig) March 15, 2022