6 options for Vladimir Putin desperate after the alarming escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war

Russian President Vladimir Putin alarmed many in the West by mobilizing 300,000 troops and issuing threats of nuclear strikes. The Mirror looked at six possible outcomes of the war in Ukraine

Video loading

Video not available

Click to playTap to play

Putin announces a "partial mobilization" of the Russian army

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered his most alarming escalation since the start of his invasion of Ukraine, the mobilization of 300,000 reservists.

The leader also supported bogus polls in the two disputed Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in the Donbass as well as Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

But he also warned that he would use nuclear weapons if he felt Russia was under threat, stalling all three moves in his latest strategy.

The mobilization of troops will take time, but will increase the numbers suffering on the Russian front line and the integration of the four regions into Russia makes the nuclear threat credible.

The Kremlin has always said that the use of nuclear weapons would only take place to defend against a threat to the Federation.

If the Russian Federation includes these four annexations, Ukraine's current counteroffensive against them would exceed the threshold of Moscow's strikes.

A serious escalation of the war in Ukraine is possible, Putin has said (

Picture:

SKY)

Putin is out of options, so what's his next move?

continue the war

This is a bitter war and Russia is suffering exponential casualties of perhaps 55,000 dead since February 24.

This is not viable as they are pushed back towards the border despite the huge damage they inflict.

Without a radical change in tactics, the Ukrainian counter-offensive could mean that Kyiv will win in months, but without Crimea. This is unlikely as it means Russia will continue to back down.