The war in Ukraine has heightened the risk of a nuclear exchange even as leaders from Russia and NATO continue to emphasize that such a war is unthinkable. Nuclear strategists and former U.S. officials have warned of a remote but growing risk of an unintended slide into direct conflict.
The outcome of a nuclear strike would be impossible to predict. A recent Princeton University simulation projecting each side’s war plans estimated it would likely trigger an exchange that, in escalating to strategic weapons like intercontinental missiles, could kill 34 million people within a few hours.
Since at least 2014, when Russia’s annexation of Crimea led to high tension with the West, Moscow has articulated a policy of potentially using nuclear weapons against any threat to “the existence of the state itself.”
U.S. defense officials would not disclose their current nuclear alert level except to say that the military is prepared at all times to defend its homeland and allies.
