Personally I don't think it IS just a matter of time before nukes are used. Putin is not a nice guy, but he isn't a comic book villain. Plus this is a ground war, so any nuke ruins the land they're fighting over and kills as many of their own troops (who aren't exactly equipped for basic fighting, let alone fallout)
Russia has enough nukes (almost 6000, and the ability to deliver them) to annihilate any other country, and put the whole planet into nuclear winter. That makes them a super power, even if they cannot win a ground war with Ukraine. For reference, India only has 160
Also, given it's history of annexing it's neighbours and conflicts with China and Pakistan (both also nuclear states) India is a very poor candidate for Security Council membership (at least as a "better" substitute for Russia).
Personally I don't think it IS just a matter of time before nukes are used. Putin is not a nice guy, but he isn't a comic book villain. Plus this is a ground war, so any nuke ruins the land they're fighting over and kills as many of their own troops (who aren't exactly equipped for basic fighting, let alone fallout)
Russia has enough nukes (almost 6000, and the ability to deliver them) to annihilate any other country, and put the whole planet into nuclear winter. That makes them a super power, even if they cannot win a ground war with Ukraine. For reference, India only has 160
https://www.statista.com/statistics/264435/number-of-nuclear...
Also, given it's history of annexing it's neighbours and conflicts with China and Pakistan (both also nuclear states) India is a very poor candidate for Security Council membership (at least as a "better" substitute for Russia).