… NATO moves to … ground operations in country (Ukraine)?
Here’s a somewhat bigger what if:
What if Putin hits one of those NATO troop occupied ground operations centers with a small (~1 kiloton, ~0.25 mile radius destruction) tactical nuclear weapon?
I think the US administration and intelligence agencies are being very deliberate and clever in their news releases. According to those recent releases, they are telling the Ukrainians, “If you target this building, you will kill a senior Russian officer, but we won’t tell you which officer.” So the US has deniability (I’m not saying credible deniability) in targeting specific individuals. But after the first couple of generals were killed, the Russians must certainly be doing everything they can to protect the remaining senior officers, including hiding their locations and travel plans. So, they must be wondering how we know where they are and where to target. I think those press releases are saying to the Russians, “We have moles planted in your senior staff and you can’t trust your own military and intelligence people.” If this is the message that Putin, who comes from high level intelligence operations, is getting, then he must be doing doodoo in his dungarees.