Maps show what will happen to UK’s 10 biggest cities if Russia fires WW3 nukes

It’s been just weeks since scientists moved the world’s Doomsday Clock to just 89 seconds from destruction.

The clock has since the end of WW2 been used to denote how close science thinks the world is to annihilation, whether due to war, climate or disease.

It’s something none of us want to think about, but among the reasons the world is thought to be at risk include the possibility, however slim it might be, of nuclear war.

And much like pandemic planning, every major western government does have contingencies in place for dealing with nuclear strikes on major cities, with the UK being no exception.

When invaded , many analysts feared it could be the first major step in the path to WW3 when war broke out on European soil once more.

With holding talks with Russian premier but not inviting and EU nations ramping up defence spending, Europe remains a more volatile place than just a few years ago.

Just today, UK Prime Minister announced an increase to the UK’s defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.

It comes after Trump has talked about Greenland and even Canada becoming part of the United States while Trump’s right hand man has suggested that America should “liberate the people of Britain”.

All the while, the UK has vowed to continue to back against

Though it remains unlikely, if push came to shove and did levy one of its many nuclear warheads against the UK, how bad would the damage be?

One website, NuclearSecrecy.com, has a tool called Nuke Map, which shows estimates of the damage which would be dealt by various nuclear weapons. This was set up by Alex Wellerstein, a science and nuclear weapons professor at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

One warhead available is the Topol SS-25, an 800 kiloton nuke currently in ’s arsenal.

It shows that, if it was dropped right on Westminster in Central London, the damage would be predictably catastrophic.

Each city fares slightly differently. Cardiff, Edinburgh and Liverpool, being close to the water, might be spared some damage compared to landlocked conurbations.

The Nuke Map explains what happens in each of the four zones in each city.

For the impact area in the orange: “Maximum size of the nuclear fireball; relevance to damage on the ground depends on the height of detonation. If it touches the ground, the amount of radioactive fallout is significantly increased. Anything inside the fireball is effectively vapourised.”

The next zone is the ‘moderate blast damage radius’. This would collapse buildings and start fires. The map states: “At 5 psi overpressure, most residential buildings collapse, injuries are universal, fatalities are widespread. The chances of a fire starting in commercial [buildings] and residential damage are high, and buildings so damaged are at high risk of spreading fire.”

The third zone, further from the point of impact, in yellow, would fare little better. The map states: “Third degree burns extend throughout the layers of skin, and are often painless because they destroy the pain nerves. They can cause severe scarring or disablement, and can require amputation.”

Finally, the last zone around the edge would see the least damage. The map says about this area: “At around 1 psi overpressure, glass windows can be expected to break. This can cause many injuries in a surrounding population who come to a window after seeing the flash of a nuclear explosion (which travels faster than the pressure wave).”

The UK government stresses that its nuclear deterrent would avoid such a catastrophe.

It says via gov.uk: “The UK’s independent nuclear deterrent has existed for over 60 years to deter the most extreme threats to our national security and way of life, helping to guarantee our safety, and that of our NATO allies.

“The risk of nuclear conflict remains remote, but the threats the UK faces are increasing in scale, diversity and complexity. That is why we must be able to deter the most extreme acts of aggression against us and our NATO allies.

“The UK has taken a consistent and leading approach on nuclear disarmament but not all states have followed. Some are significantly increasing and diversifying their nuclear capabilities. We must ensure they can never use their nuclear weapons to threaten us, constrain our decision making, or sponsor nuclear terrorism.

“It may sometimes feel that these threats are far removed from our daily lives, but the UK must have the capability to protect itself and our NATO allies. Deterrence plays a key role in keeping the public safe, and to abandon our nuclear deterrent would put us all at greater risk.

“Since April 1969, the Royal Navy has maintained continuous at sea deterrence, with at least one nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine patrolling the seas undetected at all times, ready to respond to the most extreme threats to the UK. Their fundamental purpose is to preserve peace, prevent coercion, and deter aggression.

“This continuous at sea deterrent (CASD) is the most capable, resilient, and cost-effective platform on which to deploy our independent nuclear deterrent.”