The Defence sec said earlier that Putin was taken by surprise he thought the Ukrainians were going to come out in support of him ,not go against him but that Putin is very irrational and anything could happen in regards to nuclear weapons, he can't comment if the UK is readying up theirs for security reasons .
Putin, in the traditional style of the USSR has been surrounded by yes men agreeing with his every thought, so that somebody saying 'er, Vlad, baby, this may not be the greatest plan ever' would've got the boot long ago. Apparently covid has made this worse as due to his paranoia he's only allowed a very small team to work alongside him. It's like Stalin purging the Red Army of all the most capable generals.
Incidentally, in case anyone needs something cheery to watch that'll give a good insight into the USSR (and given Putin's background, helps with him), watch the Death of Stalin, and not just for Jason Isaacs with a broad Yorkshire accent as General Zhukov. Plus Putin hates it, so win, win.
As Zhukov says in the film "That's me told. I'm off to represent the entire Red Army at the buffet. You girls enjoy yourselves." (may not be strictly historically accurate)