Vladimir Putin issued chilling warning to Europeans if ‘God forbid’ nuclear war breaks out

Vladimir Putin doesn't have much hope for Europe if, ‘God forbid’, a nuclear war was to break out.

A 2022 study suggests that a week-long war between the US, its allies, and Russia would kill 360 million people directly, and five billion out of the eight billion people on Earth would die from starvation.

So, a nuclear war is bad news for everyone involved, and Putin knows this.

The Russian president was being interviewed at a panel discussion at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum last year, where he issued a chilling warning to Europe.

Vladimir Putin's nuclear warning to Europe

Russian political scientist Sergei Karaganov, also on the panel, said 'there used to be a nuclear safety mechanism that is now seriously weakened'.

He claimed that for Russia to win the war, they must climb the 'ladder of nuclear escalation'.

Russia president Vladmir Putin issued a nuclear war warning to Europe (Contributor/Getty Images)

However, Putin argued that the world is 'already scared' of the threat of nuclear war.

"If, God forbid, it comes to strikes, everyone should realise that Russia has an early warning system for missile attacks. The US has it. Europe does not," Putin warned.

"They are more or less defenceless in this sense."

He said: "If those with whom we exchange such strikes [cease to] exist, whether the Americans will get involved in this exchange at the level of strategic weapons I doubt very much.

"The Europeans should think about it. But I assume that it will never come to that.

"We don’t have that need. Our armed forces so vastly outnumber them in conventional weapons that there is no need. I would ask you not to mention such things in vain."

What are Putin's most likely next steps?

Putin has spoken openly about the possibility of WW3 (Contributor/Getty Images)

Colonel Richard Kemp, the former head of the British armed forces during the war in Afghanistan, said in an interview with LADbible that the Russian president could take further action 'if NATO countries got more heavily involved in defence of Ukraine'.

"He's probably not going to be driving tanks into Western Europe, but he has people all around Europe who are ready to carry out sabotage attacks against our countries, and things like cyber attacks, which happen fairly frequently and that could be intensified," Kemp explained.

The colonel also said the UK has now 'woken up' to the possible threat of WW3.

How would Britain respond to a nuclear attack?

The UK will be as ready as they can be (Getty Stock Images)

Tim Ripley, editor of Defence Eye, has shared a possible five-step program the UK could implement in the event of a nuclear attack.

Step 1 – The bunkers

If tensions escalate, essential government figures, such as the prime minister, would relocate from Whitehall or Downing Street to secure underground bunkers under a protocol known as 'Transition to War'.

Step 2 – The early‑warning system

RAF Fylingdales, part of Britain’s ballistic missile early-warning network, would detect incoming warheads.

Ripley told LADbible: "That is able to, in theory, detect incoming Russian ballistic missiles. These are the big ones.

"So when they get a warning that it’s all escalated and we're having a nuclear attack the idea is that they flash the warning to the prime minister, who can prepare himself for retaliation."

Step 3 – Retaliation

“Britain has always said it wouldn't strike first, so the expectation is that they would wait until Britain had actually been hit before ordering a retaliation," Ripley explained.

“Because the fear is it's a false alarm. Is it really a warhead? You’re not really sure until it goes off. And anyway, if it's on its way at that stage, you can't actually stop it.

“So at the moment, the British doctrine that the established procedure, which we all think they're going to follow, is they would wait until a hit and then order retaliation."

Step 4 – Letters of last resort

Ripley claimed that UK nuclear‑armed submarines carry a sealed 'Letter of Last Resort' from the prime minister.

If the government is completely destroyed, submarine commanders open the letter and follow its instructions for a response.

Step 5 - Dealing with the aftermath

Just a single nuclear strike would overwhelm emergency services and a hit on London could kill hundreds of thousands, with many more severely burned and millions wounded.

The war expert said: "When you apply a nuclear weapon to a modern city you turn all the buildings into projectiles from the blast effect.

"Every single window in London becomes a projectile, so that the potential for horrendous injuries are exponential, off the chart."