Vladimir Putin was urged on Russian state television in Moscow this week to copy US president Donald Trump by issuing Ukraine with a 48‑hour nuclear ultimatum, as prominent propagandists openly discussed 'wiping cities off the face of the earth' in footage broadcast to millions.
The news came after a series of battlefield reversals and public grumbling in Russia over Vladimir Putin's failure to subdue Ukraine using conventional forces, missiles and drones more than two years into the full‑scale invasion. With Kyiv still standing and Ukraine launching strikes deep inside Russian territory, the tone on Kremlin‑controlled channels has shifted from triumphalism to something more agitated, and in some cases, more openly extreme.
