What will happen if Russia uses a nuclear bomb in Ukraine?
While we were trying to live with the endless pandemic and the economic crisis that came upon us, now, like a ball of light, the possibility of the 3rd World War came into our lap. It started to run directly without crawling because Russia is invading a small country, Ukraine, whose only guarantee is the USA and NATO. It's only a matter of time before more powerful countries get involved. But what if things get even more serious and nuclear weapons come into play? We have only one subject at the table; Russia's military power and the possible disasters it will cause.
Russia has the second strongest army in the world. At the top of the list in the USA, it's a real rival in this tense environment. Russia, which spent 150 billion dollars in 2021 to defend itself, is in front of us with huge military personnel reaching 1 million 100 thousand if we count its reserves. This crowded army is accompanied by more than 12 thousand tanks, more than 30 thousand armored vehicles, more than 7500 cannons, more than 6500 self-propelled guns, and more than 3000 rocket launchers on land. Another area where Russia is assertive is the navy; namely navy power. Although he has only one aircraft carrier, he has 70 spy submarines that can be equipped with nuclear weapons. These submarines are accompanied by 15 warships, 11 frigates, 86 Corvettes, 49 minelayers, and more, which can instantly wipe out nearby areas on land from the map. What about airpower? The total number of aircraft in Russia's possession is 4173, with 772 fighter jets, 103 of which are from the Su 35, more than 1500 helicopters, 540 of which are attacked, and many more.
nuclear warhead holdings by country, statistia
So what does all this mean? It means airstrikes destroying power plants, bridges, and railways in major cities until we respond. It means that the attacked country suddenly loses all its economic power and works for years to recover it. It means the constant bombing of civilian settlements, forcing innocent people into a mass exodus. If you remember, everything for Ukraine started with an airstrike in the morning. However, there is another issue that we haven't seen on the field yet, and that greatly escalates the tension: Russia's nuclear toys.
Russia is the country with the most known nuclear warheads in the world. He has 6227 nuclear bombs and warheads ready to use whenever he wants. Moreover, he can use these bombs in any way he wants. How Does? If he wishes, he can fire nuclear bombs from the air with his warplanes, from the sea with his ships and submarines, if he wishes, from the land and at long distances. So why can Russia do this? Opposing Russia is NATO, the world's most powerful military alliance since its establishment in 1949. There are currently 30 allied countries in NATO.
Only the USA, France, and the UK have nuclear warheads in this alliance, and Russia alone has more nuclear power than these countries combined. Of course, Russia is not alone either. The list of allies includes ex-Soviet countries, and even, according to some sources, China, North Korea, and Cuba. But there is a very important difference between the two sides; Except for the USA, other NATO member countries cannot attack any country they want, just as they wish. Just like the USA, Russia wants to be the party that sets the rules of the game alone. That's why he threatens the West through Ukraine, which he calls "under the yoke of the West," and expects a response from NATO. The worst part is: that Russia can make such destructive decisions more easily, just as we have seen in the example of Ukraine.
But what happens if Russia decides to use its nuclear bombs? Now we are faced with the most terrifying disaster scenario this thriller can achieve. We already know that Russia is a closed box, just like China and North Korea when it comes to war technologies. It is difficult to draw a clear projection on this subject but to illustrate, it is necessary to take a closer look at a 60-year-old technology in Russia's hands; Tsar Bomb. The Tsar Bomb is known as the largest and most powerful nuclear weapon ever produced and detonated on earth. What do you mean exploded? You are now looking at the 1961 test image of the Tsar Bomb, in the form of a giant rocket weighing 27 tons, 8 meters long, and 2 meters in diameter.
There is an explosion 3300 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. In just a few milliseconds, a giant fireball with a diameter of 8 kilometers forms. A wave of thermal radiation spreads around 25 kilometers in diameter, strong enough to destroy all living things. Have you seen the radioactive mushroom cloud of smoke and water vapor? It will soon reach the height of about 640 football fields, which is almost space, and the width of 1000 football fields on the ground. The high heat that goes along with the shock wave is so severe that it can cause third-degree burns in every living thing within a radius of 1000 kilometers. The shaking caused by the explosion is equivalent to a 5.2 magnitude earthquake. If this bomb had been detonated on land, not at an altitude of 4000 meters as in the test, the diameter of the crater to be formed on the ground would have been 1.8 kilometers and its depth would have been 430 meters. In other words, with a rough calculation, there would be a pit with the same area as 350 football fields, about 90 stories deep as a building.
Do you remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki where bombs 3300 times weaker than the Tsar Bomb were used? Only 95,000 people died at the time of the explosion. In the following years, the loss of life due to radiation-related diseases reached an estimated 500 thousand. Even today, health problems and radiation-related deaths are seen in the grandchildren and children of people who experienced that disaster. Although its production was stopped during the Soviet period, it is very difficult to estimate the effect on human life when the Tsar bomb was used. What about a disaster scenario that seems more likely than that? What if a nuclear war starts? That's when the bombs used had to be smaller and portable bombs compared to the Tsar.
The USA has a bomb 38 times weaker than the Czar, which is referenced in this regard; B-83 When this bomb is dropped in the middle of a city, it suddenly creates a sphere of fire hotter than the surface of the sun, and 2 kilometers in diameter. All living things in this fireball vanish in an instant, like a drop of water falling on a stove. The lightwave formed in the first second of the explosion causes permanent or temporary blindness in anyone who looks directly, depending on their distance. Even before the second, the thermal radiation wave sets fire to anything that can burn within 13 kilometers. People a little further away from the explosion are exposed to a shock wave that travels faster than sound and has stronger winds than hurricanes within a few seconds. All the houses in an area of 175 square kilometers disappear in an instant as if they were made of paper. But most deaths occur in the debris of buildings destroyed after the explosion.
The mushroom cloud that forms at the center of the blast draws in oxygen from the surrounding area, inflating their lungs, starting a wind in the opposite direction of the shock wave, intensifying the fires in the area in the opposite direction. If you survive after all this explosion, you now have the life of a butterfly. Moreover, the idea of Russia dropping nuclear bombs not only on cities but also on nuclear power plants and even volcanoes is being discussed. Consider the Chornobyl disaster in Ukraine, where tensions are now escalating. Years have passed since the disaster, but access to its home city, Pripyat, is still limited. Most of the survivors did not have a peaceful life. So, how serious is Russian President Putin, who ignited all these events and future events?
Of course, the war also has an aspect that is independent of the political borders we are accustomed to, guns, guns, and refugee influxes. Russia's hand is also strong in this regard. Let's take a recent example: It was determined that an internet agency supported by the Russian government had an important share in Trump's victory with the ads given during the US presidential election in 2016. Unfortunately, there is no clear figure on the cyber armies that countries have. Moreover, Russia has cyber hacker teams that are not thought to have any connection with the state. It is even said that with the cyberattacks carried out simultaneously with the Ukrainian operation, the internet and GSM connections in the country were crashed and sensitive systems were infiltrated. Ukraine is now on the verge of recruiting volunteer hackers and launching a cyberwar against Russia.
In this article, we have conveyed to you a disaster scenario that we are getting closer to than we have ever been before. We no longer live in a world like World War II or the Cold War, nor do we want to live. We are in an age where political borders are no longer as important as they used to be, and we can work in Europe while living in Japan. Why would a person bomb and invade cities in 2022? Crushes the civilian vehicles passing by with a tank? It seriously doesn't make sense. We hope that the disaster scenarios I described today will never come true and we can now talk about the good sides of technology, not the bad sides, see you soon.
