Is there really going to be a nuclear war/attack?

[Logburning]

I’m reading it everywhere, starting to feel terrified.

It’s not like covid or even WW1 or WW2, how can I protect my 3 year old? I can’t.

Even the BBC are talking about it as a possibility!

I just want to see my child grow up I feel so sad & scared.

No, of course not. Putin may be an arrogant prat but he isn't that stupid. He'd be annihilated in seconds.

Is there really going to be a nuclear war/attack?
No.

I wonder why the media is scaremongering so much, they didnt do this over the annexing of chimea or chechnya.

still looking for the fix of doom and gloom now they haven't got the pandemic to focus on?

The pictures of the tanks rolling into the capital is scary today , I do understand how you feel.
I just hope someone can find a way out of this situation soon and so many lives lost already of course as well as those fleeing and trying to find sanctuary elsewhere. They must be feeling so hopeless and scared.
I feel numb and unable to do much today , but there is always hope. I've heard they may have more talks tomorrow, let's hope someone makes Putin see sense and there can be some kind of cease fire.
I hope someone else will come on to reassure you a lot more, but we all feel helpless I think.

Putin has gone to great lengths to avoid getting Covid. He has shut himself off for two years and is still insisting on extraordinary infection control measures.

That is not a man who wants to die. That's a man who wants to live and cling onto power. I don't think he will start a nuclear war because he knows it will end in his death.

I think what’s more likely to happen is some sort of cyber or biological. Think nuclear attack is not practical for Putin as it’s “too close to home”.

Cyber or biological attack*

The chances of a nuclear war are never zero simply because nuclear weapons exist and humans have a long history of not acting in their own best interests but the likelihood of Putin launching a nuclear weapon are very low. Its basically intimidation and high stakes posturing, like the world adage version of parenting counting to three and using 2.... 2 and a quarter.... 2 and five eighths....

He's trying to make the West back down by reminding them that he holds nuclear weapons however holding isn't the same as using.

@VelvetChairGirl

I wonder why the media is scaremongering so much, they didnt do this over the annexing of chimea or chechnya.

still looking for the fix of doom and gloom now they haven't got the pandemic to focus on?

Because the covid scaremongering is ending and they need a new topic to keep people talking and reading /watching their crap

Maybe

No one here could possible tell you anything with certainty, but fuck it, I really wish we didn't have the endless rolling news that only make things worse.

I read somewhere on BBC News (can't find it now) that there's a vast intelligence system set up to detect ANY changes in activity which might suggest Putin actually intends to launch nuclear weapons -communications, movement of troops, anything. There has been nothing.

I know what you mean OP. I just read the thread about whether you’d want to survive an attack where a poster talks about euthanising their children in the event of and Jesus Christ I wish I hadn’t. What a dark seed to plant.
I was feeling a little calmer but my anxiety has just ramped up a notch I don’t know why I’m
Still on mumsnet reading but can’t stay away! I have sympathy for you I have a two year old and am having so many panicked, dark scenarios going through my mind at the moment.

I was reading an article that says there could be a low yield weapon accidentally-on purpose detonated on the Russian side of the border or a weapon detonated out at sea like they do during nuclear tests purely to show that the weapons are there and they're live and that even this is unlikely but slightly more likely than an all out nuclear attack. As a PP said, Russia would be annihilated because as soon as they launched there would be counterstrike launched.

Why on earth would Putin start a nuclear war? How does he profit off of that?

I hope he won't use them. I read something and they said he could be using "escalate to de-escalate" so him saying he would use nukes and looking like a mad man who "might" use them to get everyone to back down so he wins but because of a threat and we might never know if he really would do it.

If its any comfort, there have been over 2000 nuclear weapons detonated on Earth and we're all still here.

To be fair , although Putin may be scared of catching covid ( he is unvaccinated) he still issued a warning on Sunday about nuclear weapons, so not the talk of a man who is in a stable frame of mind , sadly.
I'm hoping the talks tomorrow may work.
Or the facts that he would die in a nuclear attack himself would stop him doing anything like this. Even if he went into a bunker , your chances of survival isn't guaranteed and he isn't a well man ( so I've read )
What is happening is bad enough though :(
Not sure what to think , but we are not dealing with a sane person.

@CatDogMonkeyPOW

Putin has gone to great lengths to avoid getting Covid. He has shut himself off for two years and is still insisting on extraordinary infection control measures.

That is not a man who wants to die. That's a man who wants to live and cling onto power. I don't think he will start a nuclear war because he knows it will end in his death.

Yes, I was going to post something similar. He was terrified of covid so he definitely isn't going to start a nuclear war

If he was that keen to lob nuclear weapons around he would have just chucked a couple at Ukraine. (I don't say that light heartedly, I have loved ones there)

He's threatening just enough to ensure the west respect some of his lines in the sand around involvement in Ukraine

No. Putin, like everyone else with even an ounce of knowledge about nuclear weapons and deterrents knows that a retaliatory strike would be launched immediately.

This is the reason trident exists because no one will opt for assured self destruction by being the first one to blink.

However, I don't think he's going to concede Ukraine without substantial domestic pressure. The sanctions might just achieve that. If the average Russian can't work, buy food, pay bills the entire economy will collapse and I doubt the soldiers will work for free.

Jesus Christ, no there isn't. Step away from MN, it's full of fucking idiots whose knowledge of current affairs doesn't extend beyond scanning headlines.

It's not about him profiting, it's about him thinking fuck it, I've nothing to lose now. He's not gonna be able to walk away from this.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

I read somewhere on BBC News (can't find it now) that there's a vast intelligence system set up to detect ANY changes in activity which might suggest Putin actually intends to launch nuclear weapons -communications, movement of troops, anything. There has been nothing.

I was terrified reading this then so relieved to read the end lol

Yes. Just after Eastenders on Thursday.