Putin planned a nuclear attack: 32 targets in Europe

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been rattling the nuclear saber regularly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, warning the West over its support for Kyiv.

In recent years, Moscow has placed its weapons on heightened alert, tested and deployed new nuclear capabilities, suspended participation in nuclear treaties, and announced plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus — marking the first time the Kremlin has deployed nuclear arms outside of Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While many experts argue that a nuclear war remains an unlikely scenario, a leaked dossier has reportedly revealed a list of targets that the Russian Navy could strike with nuclear-capable missiles in the event of a war with NATO. Among 32 locations in Europe, three are said to be in the United Kingdom.

The main targets in Britain reportedly include the Royal Navy’s submarine shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, a suspected industrial site near Hull, Yorkshire, and an undisclosed location in Edinburgh, according to the Financial Times.

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Russia’s Northern Fleet is reportedly expected to target defense industry facilities in the United Kingdom, as well as other sites in Norway and Estonia.

The details were first published by the Financial Times in August 2024.

In total, 32 targets are part of a series of 29 leaked classified Russian military documents that predate Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

According to the Financial Times, which cited Western sources who had reviewed the documents, the target maps were outlined in a presentation prepared for Russian officers.

The documents indicate that Russia’s Baltic Fleet would focus on sites in Norway and Germany.

They also include targets in Romania, Bulgaria, and Turkey, as well as in countries such as Iran, Japan, and China in the event of a conflict beyond Europe.

The Kremlin on Monday welcomed comments by Donald Trump regarding Russia’s offer to extend the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States.

Last month, President Vladimir Putin said he was willing to adhere to the limits on nuclear arms under the 2010 New START agreement for another year and called on Washington to do the same.

The U.S. president said on Sunday that the proposal “sounds like a good idea,” and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented that Trump’s statement “gives grounds for optimism.”

Putin warned that the expiration of the New START treaty would be destabilizing and could trigger further nuclear proliferation.