The grim reality for the West is that if Vladimir Putin pushes the button, cities from London to New York could be reduced to wastelands in a matter of minutes.
The tyrant is quietly amassing an arsenal within Russia’s military machine, designed not to win a war in Europe, but to obliterate entire nations with the push of a button.
Russian scientists are forging ahead with a frightening array of nuclear systems that sound more like doomsday fiction than modern military reality. They are developing a collection of super weapons intended to intimidate the world into caution, but these are not merely bombs and missiles.
They include nuclear-powered underwater drones, reactor-driven cruise missiles, hypersonic attack vehicles, and even suspected space-based capabilities that American officials warn could, in the worst-case scenario, blind satellites and plunge modern societies into darkness in seconds.
‘Poseidon’ doomsday torpedo threatens to hurl irradiated seawater across coastal cities
If Kremlin commanders are to be believed about their ‘Poseidon’ doomsday torpedo, a detonation would send a colossal wall of irradiated seawater crashing over coastal cities and naval bases in the Uk and throughout The West.
When unveiling a recent test, Putin calmly declared there are no existing interception methods and “there is nothing like this,” as if announcing a new naval ship rather than a device capable of poisoning continents.
Decades of arms control treaties pushed aside as Russia rattles nuclear sabre
For decades, Washington and Moscow relied on mutual deterrence and meticulous arms control treaties to ensure nobody crossed the line. Many treaties have been pushed aside or are completely dead, and military communication channels are strained. Russia is at war in Europe and has repeatedly rattled the nuclear sabre. Each time the Kremlin announces progress on one of its so-called invincible weapons, military officials and diplomats in the West exchange looks that say it plainly: the world is closer to nuclear peril than at any point since 1962.
Perhaps the most alarming of all is a weapon Russia calls Poseidon. Western officials usually refer to it cautiously, stressing that hard performance data is not public. But the broad contours are accepted because Putin himself has described them. Poseidon is a nuclear-powered, nuclear-capable underwater drone the size of a small submarine. Russian state media and officials have claimed it can travel thousands of miles underwater, guided by artificial intelligence, before detonating near enemy coastlines. In theory, analysts say, such a blast could drive a massive radioactive surge inland, sending huge tsunami waves that could devastate cities.
Putin unveils new nuclear submarine built to carry Poseidon
As if that was not enough, last Saturday, Putin unveiled his new terrifying nuclear submarine, which is built to carry Poseidon. The Khabarovsk is said to have cost £1billion and has a 10,000-ton displacement. The country’s defence minister, Andrei Belousov, who oversaw the unveiling, said: “The heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Khabarovsk is being launched from the renowned Sevmash shipyard. Carrying underwater weapons and robotic systems, it will enable us to successfully secure Russia’s maritime borders and protect its national interests in various parts of the world’s oceans.”
Above the waves, a second horror – where the United States once abandoned nuclear-powered cruise missile research as too dangerous, Russia pressed forward. The Burevestnik, known as the ‘Flying Chernobyl,’ a weapon of “unlimited range” as Putin puts it, is designed to fly using a miniature nuclear reactor, according to Russian officials. In October, Putin said Russia had achieved “key objectives” in a fresh test. General Valery Gerasimov added that the missile flew for several hours, covering a distance of nearly 87,000 miles, adding that “this is not the limit.”
Russia explores space-based nuclear capability, vetoes UN resolution
Then comes the frontier that was supposed to be protected by treaty: space. In February 2022, Russia launched a satellite called Cosmos-2553 into an orbit so high and radiation-filled that analysts noted its unusual profile immediately.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said it was testing equipment, but American officials later briefed that the satellite might be linked to experiments for a future nuclear anti-satellite device. US intelligence has said publicly it believes Russia is exploring a space-based nuclear capability, a claim the Kremlin denies.
But when the United States brought a resolution to the United Nations reaffirming the decades-old ban on nuclear weapons in orbit, Russia vetoed it, while China abstained. The US and its allies voted in favour.
Orbital capability could plunge entire regions into darkness
In orbit, Russian sources and domestic commentary describe a programme that would give Moscow the power to blind and paralyse modern society from above. Kremlin-aligned analysts talk of an orbital capability that would detonate over enemy lines and fry satellites, shut down GPS and military networks and plunge entire regions into darkness without a single ground strike.
This would effectively turn space into a theatre where modern civilisation can be switched off in seconds. The last time a nuclear device detonated at high altitude, during the 1962 Starfish Prime test, streetlights failed in Hawaii hundreds of miles away.
With such horrifying weapons now available to destroy civilization at a moment’s notice, the question must be asked: how can we limit their spread and prevent them – god forbid – from ever being used?
