LONDON

- Western countries deal very seriously with Russian threats to use "tactical nuclear weapons", and this has prompted them to increase the degree of nuclear vigilance.

And after months of ruling out Russia's resort to nuclear weapons, the language spoken by Western officials is the need to deal seriously with Putin's threats, and prepare to deal with them, starting with Jack Sullivan, the US National Security Adviser, who confirmed that Washington takes Russian threats with the greatest seriousness.

The same warning was issued by Josep Borrell, the European Union's foreign policy official, who warned that Putin's statements about nuclear weapons are not just a joke. The British Financial Times also quoted European officials as saying, "Many of the red lines established in Dealing with nuclear weapons has changed after Putin's speech.” As for the British newspaper, The Guardian, it published an editorial saying that the possibility of Putin using nuclear weapons has become a possible hypothesis, and Europe and the West should prepare for this scenario.


How does Europe prepare for any possible nuclear strike?

The European Union has a plan called the "Rescue programme", which was approved a month after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and provides for the development of contingency plans to deal with major disasters that may afflict the European Union, including facing nuclear attacks.

This program is based on the rapid response to any chemical, biological or nuclear attack, and the protection of European citizens from any risks resulting from these attacks.

According to this program, the European countries' need for medicines will rise dramatically in the event of any nuclear attack. Therefore, a budget of more than $550 million has been allocated for the acquisition and storage of medicines and medical equipment that can be used if civilians are exposed to a nuclear attack.

As for the second part of this plan, it is to prepare the specialized teams and equipment to identify the affected persons and infrastructures affected by nuclear radiation, as well as to develop plans to contain the spread of nuclear radiation.

This plan gives the right to every European country that has been subjected to a nuclear attack to use the European Union's strategic reservoir of medicines, vaccines and equipment designated for this purpose.


Where will the citizens go in the event of a nuclear attack?

The European Commission has developed a contingency plan related to providing safe shelter for civilians in the event of a nuclear attack, and includes expanding its reserves to include temporary shelters qualified to accommodate tens of thousands of people in record time and a plan to evacuate them from dangerous places.

The EU plan is also based on attaching these temporary shelters to additional facilities such as mobile hospitals and spaces for preparing food and drink, in addition to storing non-food items such as mattresses, hygiene materials, heating and cooling equipment, and power generators.

According to the European Commission, all supplies have already been purchased and all intervention teams are on permanent alert.

Is Europe available on anti-nuclear missiles?

The answer to this question is found by Matthew Oldham, senior analyst at the McKenzie Intelligence Center, in his interview with the British Sky network, as he confirmed that there is no military force or weapon that has been tested to shoot down an intercontinental ballistic missile, and there is no state It has a reliable possibility in this regard.

The military and security expert confirmed that despite the advancement of defense technology, no system capable of repelling ballistic missiles has been tested so far.

The British expert said that the only weapon capable of repelling nuclear weapons is the nuclear weapon itself, i.e. nuclear deterrence, explaining that there are two options for the West in the event of a nuclear attack;

Either a conventional military response if the attack was in Ukraine, or a similar response and nuclear strikes, whether by Britain or the United States, which provides these missiles to the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).


What is the size of the Western nuclear arsenal?

In front of the Russian nuclear arsenal, which is the largest in the world, with Moscow having 6,375 nuclear warheads, there are only 3 Western countries that have nuclear weapons, and the matter pertains to each of the United States, about 5,800 nuclear warheads, including what is distributed in military bases of countries belonging to NATO, Then France, with about 290 nuclear warheads, and the United Kingdom, with about 215.

According to military estimates, both Britain and France have the ability to wage a nuclear war that will last for days, while ending this battle with what is known in the French military doctrine as the last shot, which is the use of the last nuclear missiles that have a destructive capacity capable of stopping the battle.

In the United States, military analysts talk about the "limited nuclear war" plan, which is intended to use nuclear weapons with low explosiveness and not to use missiles with massive destructive capabilities.

According to some estimates, about 150 US nuclear bombs are currently stored in European countries, noting that the German army, for example, conducts annual training for its pilots based on carrying and shooting down nuclear missiles through Tornado fighters.