How Do Nukes in Ukraine Impact the United States?

The idea of nukes in Ukraine has generated a lot of discussion about what that would mean. And with good reason. Nuclear weapons aren’t like a bullet coming out of a gun. The effects of nukes tend to stick around. While the average American is most certainly concerned about this, they’re asking this: “How does a nuke in Ukraine impact the United States?”

Will Russia use nuclear weapons? Could nuclear fallout from Kiev reach America? And would Americans have to shelter in place?

Let’s dive deeply into these questions to see if we can’t find answers.

Table of Contents

• 01 What Kind of Nukes Does Russia Have?
• 02 What Type of Nukes Would Russia Likely Use?
• 03 Where Would Russia Likely Drop Nukes in Ukraine?
• 04 Could Radioactive Fallout from Nukes in Ukraine Reach the United States?
• 05 What Can You Do to Prepare?
• 06 Frequently Asked Questions

What Kind of Nukes Does Russia Have?

If we want to answer any of these questions, we first have to understand a bit about Russia’s various nuclear weapons. While this is not a comprehensive list of every type of nuke available to them and the means of deployment, this will give us a good bird’s eye view of some of the major players.

Russian Sea-Based Nuclear Weapons

While Russia can launch nukes from various naval vessels, perhaps the most concerning of these nukes, the Poseidon nuclear torpedo, is only launched via submarine (mainly via the Belgorod, though there are three other Poseidon-capable Russian submarines in the works). The Poseidon travels at 80mph, can quickly destroy an entire enemy fleet, and creates a radioactive tsunami that renders coastal towns uninhabitable.

The Belgorod. Image courtesy of FriskyAnYatos at Wikimedia Commons.

It utilizes a two-megaton warhead, making for a weapon that is 150x more powerful than what was dropped on Hiroshima.

Kalibr missiles are another nuclear-capable, sea-based option for Russia. These cruise missiles have an effective range of 932-1553 miles.

A conventional Kalibr missile hitting Ukraine.

Russian Air-Based Nuclear Weapons

The Tu-22M3 Intermediate-Range Bomber, the Tu-160, Tu-95, Il-78, the Su-24M Fighter-Bomber, the Su-34 Fighter-Bomber, and the MiG-31K seem to be Russia’s main nuclear-capable airplanes. There may be others, but these, at least, are the predominant ones.

One of Russia’s air-based nukes is the Kinzhal missile. These hypersonic missiles have a 1058-pound payload, are 33x more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, have an erratic flight trajectory, a 932-1242 mile range, and are designed with the idea of destroying aircraft carriers, Aegis cruisers and the like in mind. The MiG-31K is known for carrying these.

A Kinzhal missile. Image courtesy of Boevaya mashina at Wikimedia Commons.

Some Russian Ground-Based Nuclear Weapons

Iskander-M Missile Systems

These land-based, mobile platforms make it incredibly difficult to keep track of everywhere that Russia has nukes. They also allow Russia to bring numerous tactical nukes to just about anywhere.

Image courtesy of Boevaya mashina at Wikimedia Commons.

Suppose there is to be a tactical nuclear weapon used in the Russo-Ukrainian War. In that case, there is a very high chance that it will come from an Iskander-M missile system due to the prevalence of these units throughout the theater of war. These systems have a 310-mile range, can carry a nuke up to 700kg, can be outfitted with maneuverable re-entry vehicle systems (MaRV), can fire EMP warheads, and an utilize decoys to thwart missile defense systems.

We know that there are some in Kaliningrad at the moment, where they are within easy reach of many of Europe, including Sweden and Finland, non-NATO members of Scandinavia. Some of these systems were also spotted a few months ago on a train headed for the Kherson region. Of course, that was a few months ago, and these things moved. Where they are now is anybody’s guess.

Red circles are estimated range of Iskander-M ballistic missile systems. Green circles are Kalibr missile ranges. Image courtesy of Viktor anyakin at Wikimedia Commons.

RS-24 Yars

Russia has one of these systems ready to go in Kaluga with a yield that is twelve times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. With a range of 12000 km and a payload of 500 kilotons, this massive nuke can strike anywhere on the planet once it is in the air.

Yars missiles have three MIRV warheads attached, and it’s believed there are roughly 135 Yars systems that Russia has built.

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