About a year ago, the majority of Russians did not believe that the Kremlin would launch a large-scale military operation in a neighboring country like Ukraine, but it did. Until recently, the Russians were sure that there would be no general mobilization, but it is happening now. The Russians were always afraid of nuclear war, but most of them never imagined that their motherland would start a nuclear war, but now they are no longer sure.

In the midst of a raging war, few people know the exact location where President Vladimir Putin is staying, but critics say he is spending more and more of his time isolated in nuclear bunkers.

The Kremlin announced that Putin will spend his birthday, which falls on Friday, at work, and this raises more troubling questions about what kind of orders he will issue soon. On the minds of all observers, there is a question: What does Putin think of the next stage?

According to a report by the Daily Beast, people who have known Putin for many years claim that the Russian leader is "nervous" these days. Pro-Kremlin political groups speculate online and on Telegram that Putin is planning to "use tactical nuclear weapons from a bunker far from Moscow" while Kremlin scientists discuss how to prevent a looming "disaster" scenario.

Putin had said he would respond to the bleak daily news out of Ukraine, where an army is suffering "with all the means available to us," as he put it, adding that this was "not a hoax."

In a disturbing symbolic gesture, Putin on Wednesday promoted one of his closest and best-known allies, Chechen Republic leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who is now a "general". His promotion came just two days after Kadyrov called for more drastic escalation in Ukraine, including declaring martial law in Russia's border regions and "using low-yield nuclear weapons".