[fuoqi]

Tens of thousands (24k by some estimates) is quite sizable in my book and it was long before cold weather and full economic impact of the high prices. The inflation issue is #1 in internal politics for many countries, add recession and job losses caused by raising energy prices on top of that and you can see environment prime for toppling governments. With rising populism everywhere the simple solution of using NS/NS2 for at least several years in exchange for not supporting Ukraine too much could be quite dangerous for the existing establishment.

>weaponized energy

I always find it amusing how Russia gets blamed for "weaponization", while US/Europe continuously use their control over technology and financial system as a weapon.