[Who is John Galt?]

They can’t use tactical nukes. It would be World War III if they did.
A “tactical nuke” is a misleading diminutive... In reality it has about the same explosive power as the Hiroshima nuclear bomb. If one of these bombs are used, the fallout would also contaminate Russia itself and large parts of Europe. Thus triggering NATO response.

"Triggering NATO response?" Ukraine is not a member of NATO. No NATO State with nuclear weapons would risk annihilation over the use of tactical nukes in Ukraine, unless the person in charge was absolutely demented... oh, wait...

[Boogieman]

“Ukraine is not a member of NATO.”

You managed to quote the part about Russia attacking NATO states by contaminating them with nuclear fallout but you didn’t realize what it meant?

[PIF]

A nuke of any size going off near the border of a Baltic State or Poland, would do the trick - you see there is such a thing as fallout and the right wind shift at the right moment could well push it onto NATO territory. The person in charge is whoever is running the country effected.

[Dr. Franklin]

"Triggering NATO response?" Ukraine is not a member of NATO. No NATO State with nuclear weapons would risk annihilation over the use of tactical nukes in Ukraine, unless the person in charge was absolutely demented... oh, wait...

You are forgetting the Budapest Memorandum. The U.S. and Britain, made promises to Ukraine. No nuclear power will ever give up its nukes in the future if the world permits Ukraine to be nuked without a severe response. The world is watching.

[USA-FRANCE]

I think you miss read what I wrote.
I said the “fallout of the nuclear explosion would contaminate large part of Europe.” That is evidently similar to an indirect attack on Nato. Nuclear fallout coming with the winds over EU/NATO has the same disastrous effect as a “dirty nuke”.

The rule is if Nato is hit by the effect of such human life destructive nuclear winds - it triggers NATO’s response. NATO’S response could be conventional though.
But still, the response would be certain.

[Petrosius]

The response need not be nuclear. Just close the Danish and Turkish straits. Russia’s economy would collapse.

[Czech_Occidentalist]

Do you realize that if a country with nuclear weapons used these weapons against a non-nuclear country without harsh consequences, the system of international relations would collapse? Every country in the world would try to acquire nuclear weapons if possible. Would you like to live in such a world?

[Vermont Lt]

NATO being irradiated from Ukraine would certainly get a response. That response has probably been communicated—and it’s not nuclear. It would likely involve a wave of cruise missiles in Ukraine and conventional air strikes in Crimea.

Russia would lose Kalingrad and it would become an outlaw state that even China would not support.

It would be expelled from the Security Council, and all financial systems.

No, Russia isn’t going to use tactical nukes.