In terms of nuclear standoff, he's right, but the headline is taking a single word from an otherwise cautionary sentence to turn it into something alarming.
Any thread of using nuclear weapons risks a chance at nuclear armageddon. Putin is threatening the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine because they are losing this disastrous, foolish, unnecessary, costly war. All people need to understand the stakes of Russian threats to use nuclear weapons in an offensive war that they're losing, and stop acquiescing to Kremlin propaganda, whether it's the alt-right on Fox News, Elon Musk, or lefttube streamers on YouTube and Twitch. It's hard to fight against your base instinct of taking the opposite side of whoever the United States or liberals are opposed to, but that kneejerk reaction to defend monstrous autocrats has consequences. It provided cover for Russia's buildup at the Ukrainian border, it justified invasion, it gives credence to Russian disinformation and propaganda, and ultimately we're facing the first credible use of nuclear weapons by a state power in 60 years partially because of that reflex to make excuses for Putin and the Kremlin.