It's absolutely hilarious that Putin is still pretending he has any ability to counter NATO militarily outside of nukes.

Russia is estimated to have lost 87% of their pre-war soldiers and 60% of their pre-war armor.

The drafts already drove a massive exodus of their future workforce (estimated at 700k by Forbes Russia, which is around 0.5%, which is a LOT) to flee Russia.

Their ground force modernization (equipment, training, stockpiles, etc) is estimated to have been set back by 15 years (same cnn link above).

If Russia didn't have nukes, they'd pose almost no threat to NATO. Well on their way to being another North Korea.

I agree with the OP on this. Tie them up defending against an attack that will never happen. NATO is a defensive alliance.

They have, since they invaded Ukraine, moved units away from the Finnish and other borders to throw them into the meat grinder. This even includes missile units from Kaliningrad that were used as part of their nuclear deterrent.

"Dragged by my own petard!"

Simo Häyhä has entered the chat.

So they are bringing back what is left of the units they moved to Ukraine?