Tensions have ramped up between Russia and other global powers in recent weeks, and now the threat from the Kremlin feels terrifyingly close to home.
After months of bluster from Vladimir Putin’s cronies on state TV, Russia has now directly threatened to unleash nuclear weapons on the UK and mainland Europe. Sergey Karaganov, head of Russia‘s Council for Foreign and Defense Policy, said that if the nation is defeated in Ukraine, Putin “would use nuclear weapons and Europe would be finished physically”.
The chilling language came after another escalation on 8 January, when the Kremlin launched a huge drone and missile barrage in Ukraine – featuring the second-ever combat use of a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile called Oreshnik. Targeting the city of Lviv – a mere 70km from the Police border – the strike sent a chilling statement to the West. It came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed a historic deal to deploy soldiers to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal with Russia. The Kremlin has so far rejected a peace deal in Ukraine and branded British soldiers “legitimate military targets” in a sinister new threat last week.
READ MORE: Russia sends terrifying nuclear WW3 threat to UK – ‘You will be finished’READ MORE: WW3 fears ramp up as Putin’s pal lists Europe targets and warns ‘don’t blame us’
Russia claims Oreshnik missiles’ warheads can plunge at speeds of up to Mach 10 (Image: )
With Putin mouthpiece Vladimir Solovyov also naming the cities Russia would target in Europe and NATO warning Brits to prepare for war like “our grandparents saw,” it’s hard not to wonder exactly what global conflict would look like in modern Britain. Starmer has told the nation that we are facing the “greatest military threat of a generation”. But the PM has not gone as far as other nations like France, Norway and Finland, who in recent years have released manuals on how to survive war – advising citizens to stockpile food and water in preparation for a potential nuclear attack.
But is it really possible to survive the unthinkable? What do the experts say – and what do we need to prep right now? The Mirror spoke to Doomsday preppers, global conflict experts and national security specialists to try and glean some answers… as well as government guidance that other countries in Europe have recieved through their letterbox…
Survival guide plea for Brits
With multiple other countries handing out conflict pamphlets, a leading expert is urging the UK government to follow suit. Last year, countries including Sweden, Finland and Norway began distributing guides advising citizens to stockpile in preparation for a potential nuclear attack.
A total of five million copies of the 32-page Swedish booklet, titled If Crisis or War Comes, were sent to households across the country. It provided detailed instructions on how to gather supplies and find shelter in the event of war. It told households to store food and water so they’re ready if conflict comes knocking. Meanwhile, Finland put up a government website explaining how people should prepare for a number of catastrophes. “An insecure world requires preparedness. The military threat to Sweden has increased and we must prepare for the worst – an armed attack,” the Swedish book states in its introduction.
The government booklet issued to all households in Sweden(Image: )
Professor Anthony Glees, an academic in security and defence and a lecturer at the University of Buckingham, feels strongly that the British government should do the same and produce “a short, decently written booklet” about what might happen in order for the public to prepare for war. He told us: “It should stress at the outset, of course, that the whole of our national defence strategy is about deterrence, that our foreign policy is defensive not offensive and that if we become as strong as we now want to be, thanks to Starmer and his European colleagues and thanks (yes!) to the goading from president Trump, then World War Three can surely be averted.”
72-hour kit explained
And it’s not just individual nations offering advice on surviving conflict – the European Union has also issued guidance. It has encouraged all citizens across its 27 member states to be equipped for 72 hours of self-reliance, advising people to stockpile essentials such as food, bottled water, torches, matches, energy bars, and ID documents in a waterproof pouch. The initiative, part of a broader “preparedness strategy”, was formally presented by EU crisis management commissioner Hadja Lahbib last year. “Today’s threats facing Europe are more complex than ever, and they are all interconnected,” Ms Lahbib warned.
She further noted that “knowing what to do in case of danger, gaming out different scenarios, that’s also a way to prevent people from panicking”, citing the fact that shelves were emptied of toilet paper during the early days of the pandemic. Ms Lahbib also highlighted the need for the EU to create a “strategic reserve” and amass other crucial supplies – including firefighting aircraft; medical, energy, and transport equipment; and specialised tools to counter chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear dangers.
Doomsday preppers have listed 15 key items which they say will keep you alive(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
Meanwhile, Doomsday preppers who have spent years building a foundation for survival told Vice that they swear by 15 key items that they insist will keep you alive for a year in a bunker – or a bad month above ground. These include: Stored water (at least one gallon per person per day) portable water filters, emergency food, fire-starting tools, a first-aid kit, warm clothing and insultation, a tent or tarp for emergency shelter, a multi tool or survival knife, light sources like a torch or head lamp with back-up batteries, navigation tools loike a compass and paper maps, portable power sources, communiation kit like radios, hygiene products, important ID documents and cash.
How to protect yourself at home in attack
Dr Arnab Basu, CEO of Kromek Group plc, told the Mirror: “If a nuclear strike were launched on a UK city, residents would likely be given some warning. “For those outside the immediate blast zone, the priority is to get to shelter quickly, ideally the most central part of a building. Seal windows and doors with tape to reduce radioactive dust entering. Fill every possible container with water, such as sinks and bathtubs, as water supplies are likely to be contaminated after the explosion.”
Russia has warned the UK ‘would be finished'(Image: Russian MoD; e2w news)
And while many would be tempted to flee in search of the safest possible place, Dr Basu, who has previously authored a White Paper on “rethinking our readiness for rapid response radiation monitoring in the face of nuclear incidents”, has advised this may not be the wisest move. He urged: “For the next two to three days, remain indoors, preferably in the most central part of your shelter, away from exterior walls and windows. Survival depends less on fleeing and more on shielding yourself from fallout, limiting exposure and relying on stored resources until immediate radiation levels begin to fall.”
Vital skills
Meanwhile, expert Doomsday prepper Dan Goss, 33, from Liverpool, told us that community is just as important as stockpiling essentials. “Having a bunker mentality in a disaster won’t save you when your child gets ill and you need help – you need to be able to be part of the community and help rebuild it,” he said wisely.
“US preppers are cowboys who think when the s**t hits the fan, you lock your door, load your gun, and anybody that comes up the drive gets shot. You can’t do that in the UK because it just doesn’t fit our culture and our geography. How am I going to bunker up in a terraced house? Or flee to the pristine wilderness? Are all 60 million of us going to descend on the Forest of Dean and eat wild garlic?”
Dan says that community skills are just as important as stockpiling(Image: Dan Goss)
Instead, building connections with your neighbours is vital. “Disaster studies of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina found that spontaneously organised civilian groups sprang up. It’s human instinct to want to help,” Dan said. “I look at my own preparedness by getting to know my neighbours who are keen vegetable gardeners.” Another disaster study Dan quotes is one in India after a series of earthquakes. “It found that the people most likely to survive afterwards when resources were scarce were the ones the strongest social networks – those turned up at all the weddings and funerals.”
At first Dan thought of himself as more of a hunter-gatherer type – making bows and arrows and foraging. “Turns out I’m better at vegetable gardening,” he admits. “My wife and I have an allotment and we grow vegetables and herbs. There’s only so much you can grow in a city, it just supplements our diet. But even growing salad leaves on a balcony would help.”
Gardening is probably the number one skill to have, and the other one that Dan says is really often overlooked is conflict resolution. “Being able to de-escalate problems – like stopping neighbours from stabbing each other over a tin of beans will be vital.” Taking first aid and bushcraft classes would also be useful, and learning to knit, crochet and sew would also be handy when you need to stitch a few rabbit skins together for clothing. “Or mending backpacks,” Dan suggests more realistically.
The survivalist recommends starting your own veg patch and learning how to forage(Image: Dan Goss)
The professional prepper also recommends learning how to live off the land in other ways. “Foraging won’t stave off starvation,” he says. “But it will prevent things like vitamin deficiency. I prefer plant foraging in blackberry bushes, tree nuts, leaves and roots rather than mushrooms, which aren’t very nutritious.”
Dan recommends a book called The Forager’s Calendar by John Wright. He says, “It’s remarkable how much there is out there to eat. In my local park there’s three-cornered leek, lemon mint, barberry and wild garlic, while roadside woodlands are teeming with dandelions, stinging nettle, thistle stalks and fiddlehead ferns.”
Safest areas
Dr Basu told us that the most at-risk areas of attacks are major cities. These 19 locations, listed by property portal EMoov back in 2017, are situated outside of the immediate range of blasts in major British cities:
CornwallWeymouthFolkestoneDoverMargateClacton-on-SeaFelixstoweBrixworthBidefordAberystwythSkegnessIsle of AngleseyBarrow in FurnessLancasterWhitbyCarlisleDumfriesBerwick-upon-TweedInverness