Scary - and quite plausible scenario. I join you in hoping you're wrong.

The only positive I can see is that, if you can see it, so can US decisionmakers. That does nothing to make Russian use of a nuke any less likely. Maybe if they made it clear to China that they would be hit with crippling sanctions if Russia were to use a nuke(?) Maybe if they informed Putin that there were already Ukranian special forces within Russia that had already been equipped a retaliatory nuke - and that use of a nuke in Ukraine would be their go-ahead(?)