Putin loves to bring up the nuclear card

Everyone is now saying we are living in a more dangerous world than ever before. Why? Because Vladimir Putin who is about to win the election in Russia, keeps on warning the West that he is fully prepared to launch nuclear weapons and incinerate the planet. I mean, I know it's all rhetoric and muscular stuff typical of Putin but does he really want to bring the planet to an end? Or does he think that if he, say, fires half a dozen tactical nuclear weapons on Ukraine, the US-led Nato alliance will do nothing in return? He just might be thinking this because as sure as hell Joe Biden and Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron and Rishi Sunak et al don't want to incinerate the world, so if Putin did fire nuclear weapons at Ukraine to bring the country to its knees what actually would Nato do? It's a frightening question because I'm not sure of the answer. They could not, absolutely not, do nothing in reply but I cannot believe Nato would respond with a nuclear response against Russia. So this is why Putin keeps on waving the nuclear card. It's to remind the West that they are in a helluva dilemma.