If Putin nuked UK – 106 top targets and the fallout that could starve millions

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If Vladimir Putin decided to launch a nuclear strike against Britain, some six million people could die as a result of the initial bomb.

And experts have warned that number could rise to around 60million in a World War Three scenario as nuclear winter takes hold.

World War Three concerns peaked on Tuesday evening after two Russian missiles landed in the Polish border town of Przewodów, killing two people.

READ MORE: Poland could force all of NATO to declare war on Putin's Russia today after 'attack'

There are now fears that Poland, as a NATO member, could invoke Article 5 of the Washington Treaty, forcing all other members to come to their defence.

The UK, as a founding member of NATO, would in that scenario also be obliged to commit to collective defence, potentially dragging the country into a direct conflict with Russia – a nuclear power with roughly 6,000 warheads.

Earlier this year the Daily Star revealed that UK defence officials compiled a list of 106 locations they thought Russia would be ready to strike during the cold war, marking those areas as "probable nuclear targets".

The terrifying predictions were signed off by Prime Minister Edward Heath.

Declassified documents held by the National Archives showed government predictions of up to 150 nuclear missiles and an unknown number of nuclear launches from submarines hitting the UK.

The 38 urban targets included Central London, Edinburgh, Teesside, Leicester, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Hull, York, Cambridge, Maidstone, Huddersfield, Wolverhampton, Coventry and Sheffield.

Alongside these population centres were 23 RAF bases, 14 USAF bases, 10 radar stations, eight military command centres and 13 Royal Navy bases.

Although these Cold War simulations have likely changed since then, the urban population centres remain the targets that would maximise casualties.

It is thought that if an initial nuclear strike hit London, some six million people would perish as the fallout from the blast engulfs Reading, Bedford, Southend and Brighton.

More terrifying still, some 90% of people (roughly 60m people in the UK) would die in a nuclear war, experts have said.

A study published in Nature Food and written by Professor Alan Robock from Rutgers University simulated the use of 100 nuclear bombs.

It concluded there would be a 90% chance of starving to death for those who remained in Britain, with soot thrown up by firestorms blocking out the sun and causing crop failure.

Luckily, there are some safe havens where Brits could escape to in order to minimise their chances of decimation.

Prof Robock highlighted Argentina as one such place, although there would be nowhere near enough time to get there after nuclear sirens started wailing.

Real estate agents Emoov published a map outlining blast radiation devastation from nuclear strikes on 20 key targets in the UK, thus highlighting where to escape to if necessary.

According to that, the North West of England and the Lake District are good nuclear-free options, as well as much of North Wales and Snowdonia.

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A good chunk of Scotland would be safe if the map is to be believed, with anywhere from Fort William to John o'Groats relatively unchecked by nuclear annihilation.

Those in the South of England will be delighted to see that Dover, Folkestone and Margate would be fine, according to Emoov.

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• Vladimir Putin
• World War 3
• Russia Ukraine war
• Russia
• Ukraine
• Military
• Missiles

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