On Sept 13th 2022, Retired US Brigadier Kevin Ryan told Insider news that he is concerned about the possibility of Russians using nuclear weapons. This follows the Russians losing a large amount of territory in Ukraine .
Hopefully it was only coincidence that there was also a SCIF meeting on that same day (Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility) whilst journalist
Tim Hogan tweeted that president (Potus) and first lady (flotus) were in the air whilst some members of the gang of 8 gathered with the director of CIA . The gang of 8 is a bi-partisan group which meets for very serious situations (maybe akin to COBRA in the the UK).
Meanwhile on 15th Sept 2022, Putin meets with President Xi of China according to France 24. The last time this happened was just before the invasion of Ukraine.
Perhaps Geopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan has correctly summarised what is behind all this in his YouTube report of Sept 15th 2022: The Russians have recently received such a drubbing by the Ukranians, and been routed. They have abandoned all their equipment and now appear to have an ineffective army. This means that all the enemies they may have recently made from Syria to Georgia and others may take advantage putting the state of Russia at risk .
This is backed up by reports from elsewhere including Al Jazeera., and the British MOD.
Mike Martin (author Why We Fight) spoke on Spectator TV (on Youtube). He says that this is a significant moment. The Ukrainians are better than the Russians and the gains they have made have sent ripples through Moscow and the Russian Military. Ukraine basically punched through Russian lines and collapsed the Russian supply lines. They have been more agile than the Russians. Mike Martin guesses that Ukraine will win by summer 2023 and this will very likely be the end of Putin.