What does Vladimir Putin have to do to convince Washington that the Ukraine crisis is a preliminary skirmish in what might be a nuclear war? On February 23, Putin warned of nuclear war. On February 19, he conducted a full-dress drill of Russian ballistic missile forces. On February 27, he put Russia on a nuclear alert — which remains in effect.Joe Biden didn't get the message.

Then on March 29, Moscow sent a red-alarm signal to the West by leaking news that "Putin and his high command have decamped to secret bunkers, following a Kremlin statement that Russia would use nuclear weapons to counter an 'existential threat,'" the Daily Mail reported, citing investigations by journalist Christo Grozev.