Russian culture seems to treat everything as an excuse for skimming and corruption, so it's very unlikely that the entire arsenal would work as planned. Appare

Russian culture seems to treat everything as an excuse for skimming and corruption, so it's very unlikely that the entire arsenal would work as planned. Apparently it's also mostly tactical warheads which don't have a long-range delivery system. My best guess is that many of the bigger US and European cities would be wiped out, but neither continent would be turned into a sterilised desert - which is what would happen after a no-compromise exchange. It used to be assumed an initial exchange would target first strike and retaliatory systems, and cities would only be targeted if there was anything left when that phase was over. The Russian attacks on civilian targets suggests the opposite. Initial attacks would be on Western cities and populated areas, and the Russians wouldn't care about having their own cities wiped out in response. No one cares about having second strike silos being wiped out in Nebraska or the Urals when big population centres are already on fire. None of this is encouraging. Some cities and infrastructure might survive, but the aftermath would still be extremely unpleasant.