Russia's nuclear threats suggest they know they are losing in Ukraine

 Washington Examiner:

Russia is upping its World War III rhetoric. Vladimir Putin has threatened any nation that directly intervenes in Ukraine with retaliation via "strategic" weapons — "strategic" meaning "nuclear." At the same time, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov says the risks of a nuclear war are now "very significant."

On Russian state media, prominent commentators this week suggested that a nuclear war with the West wouldn't be too problematic because Russians would go to heaven, whereas Westerners would simply perish. The fact that this was allowed on state media is also highly significant, and obviously, there is nothing more serious than nuclear war.

Yet this is not the time to bow before Russian threats. Indeed, Biden must respond to Russian aggression forcefully. As Americans understandably look with concern at Russia's escalation, they must also be reminded that this showdown is not simply about whether Ukraine survives as a sovereign democracy or becomes a Russian puppet state. This conflict is about the future of the entire free world.

Ukraine's survival matters for reasons that go beyond its immediate moral and political merits. This moment is also shaping a message about what America, and by association what the free world, will tolerate in the 21st century. A sacred principle of the post-1945 democratic international order is that a sovereign democracy cannot be extinguished simply because a more powerful nation desires it. If Biden wavers, he will be sacrificing the relative peace and cooperation that was hard-won in World War II.

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Russia is clearly weaker now than it was before it started its war in Ukraine.  The threat to go nuclear is evidence that they know they could not win a conventional war with the US and NATO.  The nuclear threat is an attempt to get the US and NATO to stop providing weapons for Ukraine's defense.  Putin and the Russians started a war that they cannot win at this point and they would also lose a nuclear war.

See, also:

US Artillery Delivered to Ukraine Is More Than Guns, It Is a Game-Winning Change From the Present (plus some war and weapons pr0n)

The weapons and ammo should outperform the Russian counterparts. 

And:

Putin's propagandists simulate NUKING Europe with missiles hitting in 200 seconds and 'no survivors' in angry TV outburst at UK - as ex-Nato chief warns Russia could declare 'all-out war' in days