Ukraine

Putin luckily is not suicidal. Quite the opposite; he seems to value his life a lot as demonstrated by the ridicilously long tables to protect him from covid. He knows that the west knows where he is at all times and in the event of a nuclear strike the retaliation will be directed at him personally and we don't even need nuclear weapons for that.

There's also a real chance that they don't even have a functioning nuclear arsenal. The military is so incredibly corrupt that I wouldn't be at all surprised if the funds meant to maintain the nuclear arsenal has been pocketed by Shoigu and his cronies as has been the case with pretty much every other branch of the military aswell.

While losing this war would not be an existential threat to Russia as a whole, it might very well be to Putin though

I agree. I just thought the image was provocative. I can't draw very well so I wrote it. France was actually one of the more aggressive advocates for nuclear weapons in the event of world war 3 during the Cold War. So in my head I see a French soldier with a cigarette in his mouth. He's staring dead eyed into the East and his hand is resting on a safety cover over a red button.