While operating in Eastern Europe, a British intelligence officer received a list of nine locations from a Russian agent — offering the government its clearest indication yet of potential targets at risk.
The list, reportedly handed over to intelligence officials last year, includes two southern English towns. According to sources, one of the towns has confirmed military connections.
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“The information includes details of a high-level attack in addition to a low-level strike,” the Whitehall source shared.
“A Russian airstrike on UK soil would, of course, be a declaration of war, both on the UK and on the rest of Nato,” they added.
They further explained that the plan would be to distract the RAF’s Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) before coming in with a full-frontal attack.
Although the list has not been shared, it is assumed that towns such as Aldershot, Colchester and Portsmouth which have links to the armed forces are on there.
Additionally, the Daily Express reports that Chatham in Kent and Wiltshire’s Tidworth and Salisbury are likely candidates.
However, let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
The Daily Express added that even if Russia were planning to invade the UK, they would have to conclude the war with Ukraine first, as it seems they would not be able to sustain warfare otherwise.
Professor urges Keir Starmer to issue a survival guide on how to survive a nuclear attack
It comes after an expert urged Prime Minister Keir Starmer to issue a manual warning to British citizens on how to survive a nuclear attack amid fears of WW3.
Sweden, Finland, and Norway have already distributed pamphlets advising the public on how to survive a potential nuclear attack, and now an expert has urged Keir Starmer to follow in their footsteps.
The nudge comes as the French public is also set to receive a leaflet, which contains 63 measures among its 20 pages. The booklet includes information on how to protect themselves and their loved ones in the terrifying case of a nuclear disaster.
The above-mentioned Scandinavian and Nordic countries were told to stockpile food and water in preparation for a potential nuclear attack last year.
Five million copies of the Swedish booklet, ‘If Crisis or War Comes’, were distributed to households across the country.
It provided elaborate instructions on how to gather supplies and find shelter if a war were to break out.
The Swedish book’s introduction states: “An insecure world requires preparedness. The military threat to Sweden has increased and we must prepare for the worst – an armed attack.”
Meanwhile, Finland’s government website explains how people should prepare for several catastrophes.
Professor Anthony Glees, an academic specialising in defence and a lecturer at the University of Buckingham, urges the British government to follow suit and produce “a short, decently written booklet” about what procedures the public should take to prepare for war.
He added: “It should stress at the outset, of course, that the whole of our national defence strategy is about deterrence, that our foreign policy is defensive, not offensive and that if we become as strong as we now want to be, thanks to Starmer and his European colleagues and thanks (yes!) to the goading from President Trump, then WW3 can surely be averted,” per the Mirror.
The Professor stressed that the booklet should include details of how several catastrophes could unfold, not solely when a nuclear disaster strikes. Those disastrous events include cyber attacks, drone attacks, and missile attacks.
“The government would have to admit that we are woefully lacking in ‘Iron Dome’ systems around our key cities, as I understand we have five warships that could intercept incoming missiles but one or two are in the Gulf and one or two are being repaired…. We have no fixed systems at all,” he claimed.
“Everything to date depends on our Vanguard subs (in a decade to be Dreadnought subs) and their Trident nukes. If they are fired it will be Armageddon Day so no survivors.
“But if, more likely, there’s a conventional attack that’s something we can prepare for — a week’s supply of food, bottled water, paracetamol and loads of emergency Snickers bars as well as battery-operated devices and a couple of charging units, loaded for a few days from the electricity supply which will probably be turned off.”
Professor Glees concludes by sharing some survival tactics of his youth: “When I was a schoolboy, 70 years ago, we school kids were told to take cover under our desks, having painted the windows with sour milk to keep out the radiation. I think we were far more afraid of the headmaster than the Russians – it’ll be different today.
“More like the hippies used to say in the 1960s you needed to do when ‘the bomb’ dropped: ‘Bend over, and then kiss your ass goodbye.’”
Image source: Portsmouth Harbour Railway Station by Colin Smith