The nuclear saber-rattling between the great powers appears to intensify as the Russia-Ukraine war drags on and Ukrainian losses mount. The current state of the war is fueling calls for the use of nuclear weapons against the Russians. The intention was, among others, recently floated by French President Emmanuel Macron, but the Polish president has also called for the stationing of nuclear weapons in his country. This, however, could set off a chain reaction that would mean the end of civilization. So what would happen if Russia responded by deploying its most advanced weapons? Total annihilation, as our chart demonstrates.
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The war psychosis is irrepressibly spreading, with French President Emmanuel Macron, who wants to send NATO troops to Ukraine, recently declaring that he is ready to deploy the country's nuclear arsenal, and has encouraged his allies with nuclear capabilities to do the same.
Unleashing nuclear weapons could be fatal for humanity (Photo: AFP)
I'm in favor of opening the debate, which should encompass missile defense, firing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons of those who have them, as well as those with US nuclear weapons stationed on their soil. Let's put everything on the table and see what will truly and credibly defend us,
the leader of a country with 300 nuclear weapons said in an interview with the French press. In a more recent statement, he said he did not want to draw any red lines in a possible conflict with Russia.
In the interview, he also said that Russia had ignored international law in February 2022 by launching a full-scale war of aggression against another sovereign state, and regularly threatens to use nuclear weapons.
President Macron is being joined by a growing number of leaders who are calling for the deployment of nuclear weapons, as they were unable to weaken the Russians in the conventional way with sanctions and other punitive measures. All this brings doomsday for humanity ever closer, as the first nuclear weapon fired would immediately trigger thousands of missile launches blanketing the skies, causing a nuclear holocaust that would bring about the total annihilation of humanity. After the Cold War, this scenario was practically forgotten, but reckless and insane rhetoric has brought the possibility back to the fore.
Makes no difference who fires first
According to the nuclear doctrine of the great powers, it does not really matter which country presses the button first, because as soon as one side launches nuclear missiles, the other side detects them and immediately fires back before the warheads impact. This will lead to a total nuclear war threatening the very existence of mankind, followed by a nuclear winter, which is assumed to make the future for the rest of humanity completely impossible.
The first US missiles launched from off the coast of Norway reach Russia within ten minutes, while Russian missiles north of Canada reach the entire territory of the United States within a few minutes. Under Article 5 of the NATO alliance for collective defense, Russia launches pre-emptive strikes against nuclear powers Britain and France. Meanwhile, the British and French are also launching strikes on Russia, resulting in hundreds, even thousands, of intercontinental ballistic missiles being fired at each other.
It is estimated that more than ninety million people would be killed and wounded in the first few hours of the conflict.
Destructive terror bubble, killer shock waves
Each of the hundreds of thousands of nuclear warhead exploding on impact, create a bubble of gas hotter than the sun, immediately incinerating everything for miles . The terror bubble rapidly expands, filling the sky above the target and creating a devastating shock wave that kills the most people and destroys living things. The resulting firestorm consumes everything and everyone on Earth, and all hell breaks loose on the surface of the planet.
After the explosion, the characteristic giant mushroom cloud rises above the devastated, burning landscape. And in the hours that follow, a much more destructive and toxic cloud forms, as the flames, ravaging cities, forests, fields and everything in its path, heats up the air enough to create its own microclimate and wind system. The updraft creates a huge cloud of smoke that carries soot into the stratosphere. This cloud can reach so high due to the massive fires that there is simply no weather phenomenon to remove the soot from the atmosphere, leaving it to remain in the air for years, which in the case of hundreds of nuclear bombs would blacken the entire planet for many years.
If an all-out nuclear war were to break out, the Russians would, as President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said, deploy their all-powerful nuclear arsenal. The most formidable element of this is the supposedly uninterceptable RS-28 Sarmat, or Satan II. The Satan II is an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that, with a maximum speed of 25 500 km/h and a mass of over 200 tonnes, is the largest, heaviest and fastest silo-based weapons system in the world, with a silo capable of withstanding multiple nuclear strikes. The weapon, capable of unprecedented destruction, was officially fielded by the Russians in 2023.
The development of Satan II started in 2009 and was presented by Russian President Vladimir Putin in March 2018. The first flight test took place in February 2020 and production started in February 2021, followed by the announcement of plans to build 46 . On December 21, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the the RS-28 Sarmat ICBM's entry into service at the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces.
Siloing of the Satan II (Photo: Russian Federation Defense Ministry)
The Russians claim the US will not be able to develop an air defense system capable of effectively intercepting and neutralizing Satan II for the next forty years.
The missile has an estimated range of 18,000 km, a launch weight of 208.1 tonnes and a circular error probability of only five hundred meters. The missile is 35.5 meters long and has a diameter of three meters.
The payload is more than ten tonnes, which can contain 10-15 warheads, 16 smaller warheads, and can also carry other MIRVs or glide vehicles. Hypersonic gliders differ from conventional ballistic missiles in their ability to maneuver and operate at lower altitudes. The combination of maneuverability and high speed poses a significant challenge to conventional missile defense systems.
The rocket is capable of travel over any terrain and can fly from the North to the South Pole. It carries a wide range of high-powered nuclear warheads and is equipped with an active defense system designed to neutralize interceptor missiles or weapons fired by an adversary. The nuclear warheads it can carry range from 750 kilotonnes to 1.2 megatonnes each.
The graph below shows that with a range of 18,000 kilometres, there is virtually no point on Earth from the North to the South Pole that falls out of its reach. The weapon has been designed to evade all defense systems, so there is little chance of neutralizing it, and total destruction is certain within its range from the epicenter of the explosion.
Satan II would visibly level the following cities and their suburbs to the ground. In the case of New York (as with any other city), it would have a devastating effect within a 34-kilometer radius, which would mean millions of dead. Depending on wind and weather conditions, this could mean tens of millions of people. Millions more would suffer from radiation and other consequences of a nuclear strike.
By comparison, Budapest has an administrative territory of 525 square kilometers. The Hungarian capital would in essence be leveled, everything would be destroyed and burnt out, and the devastating radiation would spread very quickly beyond this zone. With the explosion in the city center, the epicenter, hotter than the sun, would melt and incinerate everything in a radius of 54 square kilometers. The radiation and shock waves would reach as far as the Slovakian border, Esztergom and Vac.
Cover photo: Illustration (Graphics: Magyar Nemzet)
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