The UK regions vulnerable to Russian nuclear attack – MAPPED
The Kremlin has an estimated 6,500 nuclear weapons at its disposal, more than any other country on Earth, as well as 15 bases from which warheads could be launched at targets in the UK.
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As the country in Europe sending the most military aid to Ukraine – and the second-most in the world behind only the US – the UK is one of Russia’s greatest international foes.
Vladimir Putin has raised the spectre of nuclear war on multiple occasions since the invasion began.
Earlier this week former Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Rogozin, who is close to the frontline, said that Moscow is facing defeat in the war against Ukraine unless Putin uses tactical nuclear weapons.
Last year a former Kremlin official revealed that the UK could be a target of a nuclear attack, prompting many to wonder where exactly a nuclear strike would hit.
Ex-adviser to Putin, Sergey Markov, claimed last September that UK cities could be a nuclear target for the Russian president.
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Speaking on the BBC’s Today programme he said: “For Western countries, for you, British listeners, I would say that Vladimir Putin told us he would be ready to use nuclear weapons against Western countries, including nuclear weapons against Great Britain."
Mr Markov added “your cities will be target...” before being cut off during the live radio broadcast.
Modern Russian warheads in current deployment are capable of striking practically anywhere in the UK. The Federation of American Scientists estimates Russia has 15 nuclear bases from which weapons could feasibly be launched towards the UK.
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The question of where exactly a Russian nuclear strike would target has been discussed since the Cold War. National Archive documents unearthed by the Daily Star revealed Edward Heath’s Government 50 years ago plotted 106 locations deemed to be “probable nuclear targets”.
These included major population centres such as London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Coventry and Sheffield. If dropped in central London, just one Soviet-era Tsar Bomba – the most powerful nuclear warhead ever designed – would cause almost six million fatalities, the fallout from the blast engulfing Reading, Bedford, Southend and Brighton.
Nuclear weapons have only ever been dropped on civilian population centres twice in history – when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, resulting in as many as 230,000 casualties.
Military facilities are also highly likely targets, the Cold War plans singling out 23 RAF bases, 14 USAF bases, 10 radar stations, eight military command centres and 13 Royal Navy bases. Although far fewer are in operation today after decades of budget cuts, forces have been consolidated into a handful of crucial installations extremely likely to be targeted.
According to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Russia has an estimated 4,447 nuclear warheads, of which 1,588 are currently deployed. A total of 812 of these are on land-based ballistic missiles, 576 are on submarine-launched ballistic missiles and up to 200 are stationed at heavy bomber bases.
A further 977 strategic warheads and 1,912 non-strategic warheads are thought to be stockpiled in reserve by the Kremlin.
However, Putin’s threats rely on Russia’s nuclear arsenal being in working order – something a former British Army officer suspected may not be the case.
Speaking to GB News last year, Lt Colonel Stuart Crawford said: "On the tactical nuclear weapon front, it is well-known that the nuclear warheads have been in storage since the 1990s. No one knows if they are well-maintained or whether they still work."
The colonel assured viewers that NATO surveillance systems would spot Russian preparations for the use of nuclear weapons long before they were launched.
He added: “The warheads are not sitting on missiles or in artillery systems waiting to be delivered. They have to be outloaded, and as soon as they are loaded out from their arsenals, bunkers, and depots, the eyes in the sky will see that happening."
Gormer CIA agent Robert Baer has warned to Express.co.uk this week: “I do believe Putin backed into a corner will use tactical nukes, or flip over the table by, for instance, destabilising the Baltics. This is what at least some Russians believe.”
