Key Targets: Where a U.S.-Russia nuclear war could strike hardest

It may be something that has never crossed your mind...but maybe it should. Do you leave near a danger zone if there were to be a nuclear conflict? It might seem far-fetched to think about this subject, but the fact is, geopolitical tensions have never been higher, so it might be wise to consider the question at hand.

However, Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions and threats since he invaded Ukraine in February 2022, have made the fear of nuclear war become something that doesn't sound so silly anymore.

However, heightened global tensions have renewed worries that the United States and Russia could fight a nuclear war. But if that ever happened, how bad would things get?

While it isn't likely that we'll see either country launch a nuclear strike against the other over the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. If the two powers did come to blows it wouldn't be good for either nation since both could inflict a lot of damage on the other.

Russia is the world’s largest nuclear power with an estimated stockpile of roughly 4,380 warheads with an additional 1,200 waiting to be dismantled as of March 2024 according to the Federation of American Scientists. If Putin used one of his tactical nuclear devices in Ukraine, it could start a chain reaction that leads to war. 

In the event of a nuclear war that involved Russia and the United States, it would certainly also involve America’s NATO allies—a situation that would make several countries places you wouldn't want to be once the missiles began flying.

If Vladimir Putin was fighting a nuclear war then those living in the United States could expect most of the country's major cities would be destroyed by Russia’s first volley of intercontinental ballistic missiles. 

Cities like New York, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washinton D.C. would be among the first struck according to a map created by CBS News journalist John Dodge in 2015. 

Dodge used open-source data from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and the National Resource Defense Council to plot likely Russian nuclear targets in the United States. 

Also on the list, you’ll find large clusters of targets in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, and Wyoming—places which house a substantial portion of America’s nuclear arsenal. 

"Some of the larger targets include active nuclear plants,” wrote The Independent’s Gustaf Kilander, who recently reevaluated Dodge’s map and its targets in a February 10th article on the subject. 

“There are approximately 90 plants across the US,” Kilander added, “with some located in Alabama, Arizona, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee.”

With the United States being Russia’s primary antagonist—and the second-largest nuclear world power with an arsenal of 3,708 warheads and 1,336 retired warheads waiting to be dismantled as of May 2024 according to the Federation of American Scientists—the country would probably be one of the worst places to be if a nuclear war broke out. 

Russian bombs wouldn't likely also end up targeting the United Kingdom in any nuclear war scenario and it's not hard to see how that could unfold in today's geopolitical climate seeing as how London has been one of the staunchest supporters of Ukraine since Moscow launched its 2022 invasion of the country.

According to Newsweek’s Brendan Cole, by July 2022, Putin alone had threatened to bomb the United Kingdom at least 35 times since Russia invaded Ukraine, which might make the country the second worst place to be in the event of a nuclear war with Russia. 

Most of the UK’s major cities would be under threat with the Daily Star’s Adam Cailler reporting in September 2022 that a Cold War Era map, discovered in the country’s National Archives, revealed where Russian forces would bomb. 

“Targets at the time were set to include Central London, Edinburgh, Teesside, Leicester, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Hull, York, Dover, Cambridge, Maidstone, Huddersfield, Wolverhampton, Coventry, and Sheffield,” Cailler wrote, and it's likely those targets haven't changed much.

“Alongside these population centers were 23 RAF bases, 14 USAF bases, 10 radar stations, eight military command centers, and 13 Royal Navy bases,” The Daily Star reporter added, which would essentially cover the entire British Isles in destruction. 

Russia wouldn't escape the destruction of a possible nuclear war either, even if Putin was the first to act. In the event of a first strike from Russia, the United States and its NATO allies would retaliate in force.  

President Joe Biden warned Putin in October 2002 that he would face “Armageddon” if he even tried to use one tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. 

While the world has no concrete data on which NATO countries would be bombed in the event of Nuclear war with Russia, Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscomos said that in “a nuclear war, NATO countries will be destroyed by us in half an hour,” making them a very dangerous place to be if war breaks out. 

Even if you don’t live in a country that could be directly affected by a nuclear exchange, it might not matter according to new research published in August, 2023.

“Even a small conflict in which two nations unleash nuclear weapons on each other could lead to worldwide famine,” wrote Alexandra Witze. 

“Soot from burning cities would encircle the planet and cool it by reflecting sunlight back into space," Witze added, "this in turn would cause global crop failures that… could put five billion people on the brink of death.” 

So in the event of a nuclear war between Russia and the United States, there’s really no place that's safe—a thought that really should be keeping you up at night. 

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