In truth, even a limited tactical use of a single nuclear weapon against Ukraine would swiftly result in massive conventional retaliation by the US and NATO and Russia becoming a pariah around the world.
The single greatest threat of F-16s is against Crimea's lines of communication with Russia, especially the bridge across the Kerch strait. The range of an F-16 from the furthest parts of west Ukraine easily includes the Kerch bridge. That is why the Russians recently concentrated their air defense assets there.
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled What It Takes to Fly the F-16: Challenges for Ukraine, Rockingham wrote: The Russians know and play on the American fear of escalation across a nuclear threshold. As the immediate and most likely target of a Russian nuclear strike, Ukraine has no reason to desire or provoke Russian use of nuclear weapons. In truth, even a limited tactical use of a single nuclear weapon against Ukraine would swiftly result in massive conventional retaliation by the US and NATO and Russia becoming a pariah around the world.
The single greatest threat of F-16s is against Crimea's lines of communication with Russia, especially the bridge across the Kerch strait. The range of an F-16 from the furthest parts of west Ukraine easily includes the Kerch bridge. That is why the Russians recently concentrated their air defense assets there.
NATO members don't want their own countries exposed to nukes so they fight their war in the Ukraine, trying to goad the Russians into firing on the Ukraine. NATO doesn't care about the Ukrainians - that's why they've prolonged the war long after any hope of winning was proven futile.
History shows bridges of strategic use have been blown up without F-16's.
The F-16's are a vehicle NATO hopes to use to get WWIII started. It's not that the US would be a first strike target. It's that once they provoke Russia to fire on the Ukraine, then the US and other nations will claim they are justified in firing on Russia.
especially the bridge across the Kerch strait.
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That bridge is no longer the military supply line. Now mainly just a civilian passageway, handling civilian infrastructure needs, primarily rebuilding.
Russia has built a rail line ( in record time) that extends to Melitipol, carrying metric tonnage of war supplies.
“ Kirilo Budanov dropped a bombshell on March 31. That day, the head of the intelligence services of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense (GUR) stated in an interview with Ukrainian state television that Russia had “almost” completed the construction of a new railway line that will connect the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don with Crimea along the Sea of Azov. Until that day, Ukrainians had barely heard of this infrastructure, except for the propaganda statements made by Russian President Vladimir Putin, which few in Ukraine believed. The military authorities in Kyiv have admitted this week that they expect this route to come into operation in soon, which will be a significant step forward in Russia’s efforts to consolidate its military presence in four partially occupied provinces.
Tavrida-2 is the name of this train line, as reported on Wednesday by Denis Chistikov, the second-highest Ukrainian representative for the occupied territories of Crimea. Once completed, the 310-mile railway line will be the second rail network connecting Crimea — the peninsula illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 — with Russian territory. The first train line crosses the Kerch Strait bridge…..”
Non western MSM sources state the rail line has already been supplying areas east of Marioupol.
Vlad appears to have checkmated senile Joe once again.