If I were Putin (a sociopath with no regard for my own safety), I would drop a low yield bomb on Eastern Ukraine. Then ask the rest of the world to roll over give me whatever I ask for. Or Else you'll be next.
Given the widespread reports during this war of Russian equipment in poor condition, I've been thinking about this possibility for a while:
* Putin fires tactical atomic weapon at some empty plot of Ukrainian land, and announces it as a "demonstration" of Russian might.
* The weapon is a dud.
I'm not sure whether this outcome might not be worse in the long run, in terms of geopolitical stability, than if the weapon performs as expected!