'Putin is going off the rails — he’s having serious difficulties making logical decisions': Retired general

Retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey told MSNBC on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to have lost it.

Speaking to host Ari Melber, McCaffrey cited the recent announcement that Putin was warning of using nuclear weapons.

"Ari, I think he is going off the rails," McCaffrey said. "He had a tremendous grasp of nuclear capabilities in Russia and the United States. His statement implying that these are usable weapons indicates to me that he's having serious difficulties making logical decisions."

He went on to explain that just threatening to use them just because he's losing is a losing strategy.

"First of all, he's threatening, implying a threat from nuclear weapons over a failed conventional operation against a neighboring state — not the existential survival of the state. Which is what nuclear weapons are there to provide a deterrent for that kind of an attack," he explained.

McCaffrey went on to explain that Putin fully knows the stakes involved in a nuclear war.

"If he initiated a nuclear assault on the United States and got a complete first strike in on us, it would still result in the devastation of the Russian nation," he said. "They just don't make any sense. You couldn't get a Russian Air Force lieutenant colonel in private to say, 'Yeah that sounds like a realistic option.' So, what he's doing is piling more fuel on the argument that NATO better get rearmed, better get scared, better reinforce the eastern states, because this guy is dangerous."

He then offered an analysis of what's going to happen next in Ukraine.

"Now inside Ukraine, it looks to me like the next 48 to 72 hours is going to be a crucial -- crucial part of the battle," he said. "Fighting in an urban area — you can't defend the perimeter of a city successfully. You have to go back into the towers and churches and fight from out of buildings with anti-tank weapons. If do you that, it's going to be catastrophic damage to not just the city itself but the civilian people."

See the full discussion below:

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