[King-Aaron]

> they would just use small yield nukes on certain cities to force capitulation

The use of small yield tactical weapons would almost certainly escalate to full blown nuclear exchanges, it's a pandoras box that won't be closed.

[moistly]

MOABs have about the same destructive force as a tactical nuke. I expect they’d be used in response. And if the Rods from God were ever put into orbit, those as well. The Kremlin, government offices, factories, refineries, and oligarch estates can be obliterated without resorting to nuclear escalation.