MAD is tricky. I would like to think once you get nuked a few times you won't retaliate to avoid MAD. But in reality it happens very fast, if you hit the enemy

MAD is tricky. I would like to think once you get nuked a few times you won't retaliate to avoid MAD. But in reality it happens very fast, if you hit the enemy with enough nukes fast enough you might save a few cities. In the US urban sprawl type mega cities mean several typical warheads places strategically and getting past THAAD will need to succeed to wipe out a city. In both US and Russia, most of the rural population will be just fine after several waves of nuking it will be the aftermath (afterthought during battle) that will kill most. Critical civilian and military infrastructure will still be viable in many places with millions of lives that could be saves if you overehelm the enemy quickly enough.