Over the next 6-12 months, they may try to draw NATO into making a first strike for some reason, which will give them a domestic and international propaganda tool.

To what end? Any actual war with NATO quickly becomes nuclear.

They seem to have all they need for propaganda, simply by saying it. An actual strike would cause expensive damage, and not achieve anything that they couldn't get cheaper by just claiming it happened.

The article suggests that they're content to tell their people that they already own Ukraine and are under attack there. It seems pretty effective domestically.