Vladimir Putin sparked fears that he may use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine after claiming it found a US weapons programme in the country. The US rejected this claim, arguing Russia was using this as an excuse to use these weapons themselves. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement: “Russia has a track record of accusing the West of the very crimes that Russia itself is perpetrating.
“These tactics are an obvious ploy by Russia to try to justify further premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attacks on Ukraine.”
But justifying an attack with a chemical weapon, which are classed as weapons of mass destruction (WMD), could have severe implications for the West.
President Joe Biden warned there would be a “severe price” to pay if Russia used chemical weapons in Ukraine, while NATO has said it would be a war crime.
But Putin has warned that if the West gets involved, it would face “consequences they have never seen”.
This has raised concerns fears of an all-out war, which the UK may be dragged into as an ally of the US and a NATO member.
And another WMD, nuclear weapons could even come into play.
With Russia having the largest nuclear arsenal on the globe, it could leave Britain on the defensive.
Luckily, Subterranean Britannica identify that 258 nuclear bunkers are spread across the UK.
Kelvdeon Hatch, in Essex, is one of the largest subterranean shelters in the country.
It was built by the Government back in 1952 so it could keep running if the capital came under threat.
The Government also built another bunker in Corsham, Wiltshire, for the same purpose.
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According to some estimates, it cost around £110million to build, but was sold by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for about £40,000 around 20 years ago.
Mike Parrish, a caretaker at the “London bunker”, says he has been receiving a lot of phone calls as the Ukraine war has heated up.
He told The Telegraph: “Yes, quite a lot of interest. And emails, mainly from people saying: ‘Money is no object, how much would it cost to rent the place for a year, or five years?’ The same thing happened after 9/11.”
And he hasn’t ruled out letting out to a high paying customer if the price was right, adding that the bunker is “completely ready”.
He said: “Valve radios, the telephone exchange, they’d all work without the systems your mobile phone need to keep going. It’s completely ready.”
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Nick McCamley, author of Cold War Secret Nuclear Bunkers, told The Telegraph: “The country is littered in abandoned bunkers now, absolutely littered.
“Virtually all Britain’s Cold War infrastructure, as far as we know, has gone.
“Defence strategies didn’t envisage a realistic risk of nuclear war, so why keep these things on?”
Other nuclear bunkers in London include a spot at Hampstead Way, where a never-completed tube stop was converted into a shelter in the 1950s.
There is also a three-storey military citadel built under the MoD building.
But according to My London, there are 46 nuclear bunkers in total.
Manchester and Birmingham also reportedly have decent numbers, while in Wales there are around 12 bunkers, with 23 shelters in Scotland and 4 in Northern Ireland.