Putin Lunched a Nuke Missile

ever since russia invaded ukraine the

world has been afraid of one thing

russia's nukes

but

what exactly would happen if russian

president vladimir putin decided to push

the red button

what could lead to putin

detonating a nuclear weapon

what chain of command would this order

need to follow

and what would happen if nato's member

countries fought back

this is what if and here's what would

happen if russia launched a nuke

when the united states attacked the

japanese cities of hiroshima and

nagasaki in 1945

it marked the only two times in history

that nuclear weapons have been used

during a time of war

the destruction and casualties from

these bombs were devastating

combined an estimated

120 000 people were killed instantly

and tens of thousands more in the

following months people within one

kilometer of the detonations were

carbonized by heat rays

and those within one and a half

kilometers from ground zero suffered

flash burning and severe damage to their

skin

fast forward to today and russia has

more nukes than any other country

and putin has already ordered russia's

nuclear forces on high alert

threatening any country that sides with

ukraine

so could the world be on a razor's edge

of a nuclear winter

based on russia's policies on nuclear

deterrence

there are a few basic principles by

which putin could make the decision to

use nuclear weapons

one of the reasons for this

world-changing launch could be ballistic

missiles aimed at russia or its allies

another might be any attack on critical

government or military sites that would

undermine russia's nuclear forces

ability to respond

finally and maybe the most concerning of

reasons

is the use of conventional weapons

against russia that it perceives as a

direct threat to its existence

yeah this means that russia could launch

nukes if any member of the north

atlantic treaty organization or nato

started to directly intervene in the war

in ukraine and it's this kind of nuclear

posturing that has led to many western

leaders indicating that there's a limit

to how far they would go to help ukraine

defend against russia

now if this were to go down it would all

begin with putin and a small briefcase

that he keeps close to him at all times

this is known as the chight

and it would connect the russian

dictator to the command network of

russia's nuclear forces

putin wouldn't be just pushing a big red

button to launch

instead he would transmit launch orders

to the general staff which is his

central military command

the russian general staff would then

launch nuclear missiles by sending

authorization codes to individual

weapons

commanders or in case the command posts

were destroyed

they could bypass those by using a

backup system called perimeter

this would allow the general staff to

directly initiate the launch of

land-based missiles remotely

if they were to do that

these land-based missiles would take

about 30 minutes to reach a country like

the united states

if the launch came from a submarine

positioned closer to u.s territory it

would only take 10 to 15 minutes for the

strike to land

once launched the u.s military's

space-based infrared system would detect

any missiles with infrared radiation

within minutes president joe biden would

be alerted and a few moments later the

response would likely be an immediate

massive

counter-attack that would mean the

deployment of potentially hundreds if

not thousands of aircraft nuclear

submarines and land-based heavy

artillery vehicles armed with missiles

but even this huge military action would

still only be a reaction to the first

launch

imagine if a warhead detonated in

washington dc just a few blocks away

from the white house

even if this device was only two-thirds

as powerful as the bomb dropped on

hiroshima everything within

approximately one kilometer would be

destroyed

over 45 000 people would be killed and

another 300 000 more injured

anyone within 8 kilometers could be

temporarily blinded by the overwhelming

flash of light from the blast people as

far as 30 kilometers away from the

explosion could be enveloped in a

mixture of dust debris and deadly

byproducts of radiation

this would be a terrible preview of the

devastating effects that any further

escalation could have on the whole world

not just north america

if russia and the united states

detonated their full arsenal of nuclear

weapons the entire planet would be

covered with a blanket of soot in only

two weeks

the soot would block sunlight and could

lower the temperatures to below freezing

even in the summer months

and it could take 10 years for it to

dissipate

the threat of nuclear war is terrifying

but all may not be totally lost russia's

army was considered to be one of the

most powerful in the world but their

invasion of ukraine has revealed that

the russian army may be more

inadequately equipped and poorly trained

than expected

the looming threat of nuclear war

could just be another way for russia to

keep the world in a submissive state of

fear

putin may or may not have gone insane

he sure is unstable but he's not the

only person involved in launching nukes

besides nuclear war isn't a game