Russia Ukraine War. Why Are Russian Troops Withdrawing?

Why are Russian soldiers retreating? Will Putin use chemical or bilogical weapons? Find out in today's live boots on the ground update by Ukrainian soldier near Odessa.

Day-39 of Russia's Invasion of Ukraine brings the Russian death toll to 17,000+, with millions of Ukrainian people fleeing Ukraine to neighboring Poland, Romania, Hungary, Moldova, Slovakia. Most Ukrainians stay behind and take up arms to defend against Russia's Putin.

In recent years, Russia has reviewed its policy on the use of its nuclear arsenal. In June 2020, the the Office of the President of the Russian Federation published an executive order: Basic Principles of State Policy of the Russian Federation on Nuclear Deterrence. The order has generated considerable debate about whether it is an indication that Russia might be more ready to use nuclear weapons than before.

The order noted that Russia considered nuclear weapons “exclusively as a means of deterrence”. Russia’s strategy, it said:

…is defensive by nature, it is aimed at maintaining the nuclear forces’ potential at the level sufficient for nuclear deterrence, and guarantees protection of national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state, and deterrence of a potential adversary from aggression against the Russian Federation and/or its allies.

But the document does suggest that Russia might escalate to the use of nuclear weaponry if it faces losing a conventional conflict: “in the event of a military conflict, this policy provides for the prevention of an escalation of military actions and their termination on conditions that are acceptable for the Russian Federation and/or its allies”. This has been widely described by US analysts as a policy of “escalate to deescalate”, although this characterisation has been denied by Russian military experts.