There is an air of desperation around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky these days as he tries to convince his Western allies, the United States in particular, that he has a realistic plan to force Russian President Vladimir Putin to give up his maximalist goals and sue for peace.

Former Los Alamos lab director Siegfried Hecker proposes a series of nine questions on great power competition, the global nuclear order, proliferation, and the role of nuclear energy that journalists and citizens should ask the 2024 presidential candidates.

A senior Russian lawmaker on Thursday said that Ukrainian strikes on Russia with Western missiles would lead to global war with the use of nuclear weapons and that Moscow's response would be tough with more powerful weapons.