The Ukraine conflict has presented the existential threat of a nuclear war between NATO and Russia for the first time in decades. Political leaders must understand what this means and realise that a nuclear exchange would be catastrophic and must be avoided at all cost.

Between them, NATO and Russia have around 12,000 nuclear weapons – some over 100 times the power of the bomb dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima in 1945.

ACTION

Nuclear weapons have been used twice, on the Japanese cites of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Almost 350,000 people died as a result of the bombings, with many more suffering serious and debilitating injuries. This number would be far higher if a nuclear bomb was used now due to the higher destructive power of today’s weapons. The use of just a single nuclear weapon would mean catastrophic medical impacts, the incineration of cities and populations, the appalling deaths from radiation poisoning, and environmental damage to such a degree that millions across the globe could starve.

Read CND’s briefing on the full impacts of a nuclear attack or war

Watch CND’s webinar with expert speakers on what a nuclear war would look like

The possibility of nuclear war is the greatest for many decades.

Order your free No Nuclear war poster

Support our campaign against nuclear weapons, and against nuclear war.