They need anti aircraft missiles of sufficient range to take down the aircraft over the Black Sea that are launching those missiles, The supply of anti shipping missiles resulted in parts of the black fleet legging it back to Russian territory.
Re the nukes and reasons why not.
https://empr.media/opinion/interview...-risk-using-it
Russia has one weapon left against NATO – nuclear: why Moscow will not risk using it
NATO realized the danger from the Russian Federation, the aggressor country, and took measures to increase the strength of the rapid reaction force from 40,000 to 300,000 soldiers.
Professor and military expert Yuriy Fedorov explained why Vladimir Putin had failed to prevent the strengthening of NATO and why using nuclear weapons is suicidal for Russia. In addition, the expert elaborated on the American military exercises Dynamic Front 2022, which started on July 20.
How do you assess the drills currently conducted to defend NATO’s eastern flank?
During the preparation of the NATO summit in Madrid, pivotal decisions were made, according to which NATO cannot act from a position of weakness in relation to Russia and to what is happening in the east of the territory protected by the Alliance. Therefore, decisions were made aimed at strengthening the armed forces and military capabilities of the North Atlantic Alliance. Eight multinational groups were also created: four are in the Baltic zone, and the other four are in the Black Sea basin. They will be transformed into brigades. The number of personnel of combat groups and weapons will be tripled. It was also decided that NATO’s rapid reaction force will be expanded from 40,000 to 300,000 troops. This is a radical strengthening of military capabilities. The North Atlantic bloc realized the danger from Russia and took measures that will be implemented within one year. By the middle of 2023, NATO will have forces that significantly exceed the capabilities of the Russian Federation. For comparison, before the war in Ukraine, the Russian ground forces totaled 280,000 people.
Are there any risks that the Kremlin will make attempts against NATO countries?
Russia cannot do anything about the strengthening of NATO and cannot prevent it. See how Putin reacted to the upcoming NATO accession of Sweden and Finland. He said, “We have no problems with these countries, so let them join.” Before that, Putin was spitting, stomping his feet, and saying, “If NATO advances to the borders of Russia, we will arrange Armageddon and wipe everything off the face of the earth.” But nothing works, and NATO expands to the borders of Russia. The Kremlin is aware of the weakness of its armed forcesand cannot do anything. There is only one thing left – to use nuclear weapons, but this is suicidal for Russia. The retaliatory strike will be so powerful that Moscow will not risk using nuclear weapons against Ukraine or one of the NATO countries.
Is the thesis that NATO is outdated and cannot protect Europe a manifestation of fear?
This is an attempt to calm down the nomenclature. Kremlin propaganda tries to calm down the officer corps, law enforcement agencies, and repressive organizations and convince them that nothing terrible is happening, “We are still strong and NATO is weaker.” However, the Kremlin understands that the situation is the opposite. Yesterday, July 20, “Dynamic Front 2022” drills began. They are led by the 56th US Artillery Command, which reactivated in November of 2021 when Washington concluded that Russia intended to launch a full-scale war against Ukraine. The Command was created to coordinate and direct operations in three domains: on the ground, in space, and in cyberspace. In the USA, the future concept of military operations was adopted, according to which the targets (Russian military objects) are determined by satellites together with cyber intelligence. And then artillery missile strikes, which cannot be intercepted by either Russian air defense or their anti-ship missiles, are launched at them. If one looks at the announcement of the start of the exercises, a second multifunctional battle group is mentioned there. The formation was created in the summer of 2021 to integrate the actions of new American missiles, that are currently being developed and could soon be used. There are three batteries in the battle group: HIMARS, a battery of “medium-range forces”, and a battery of “long-range hypersonic weapons”. They are designed to destroy batteries of Russian “Iskander” and anti-ship missiles in the Kaliningrad region and regions near the borders of the Baltic states. After that, NATO aviation is able to strike all Russian facilities in Kaliningrad and western regions, ignoring anti-aircraft and anti-ship defense.