These are the top 20 British towns and cities that would have been targeted by Soviet nuclear strikes during the Cold War, according to UK government officials.
Tensions between Britain and Russia have escalated exponentially after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale location on Ukraine on Thursday.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the attack as Russian forces launched missile strikes on Kyiv and Putin's troops lined the border of the capital in an effort to encircle the city.
UK defence officials once released a map of the areas they felt were most vulnerable to a Soviet attack.
The map pinpoints 106 locations that the communist country could strike with nuclear missiles, should he decide to bring the war to the UK, Daily Star reports.
Follow our live blog of the Russia Ukraine war here, with our reporter, Andy Lines in Ukraine
The "probable nuclear targets" were signed by the Prime Minister's office under former PM Edward Heath, as the UK prepared for any involvement in the Cold War.
Targets at the time were set to include major cities including central London, Edinburgh Teesside, Leicester, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Hull, York, Dover, Cambridge, Maidstone, Huddersfield, Wolverhampton, Coventry and Sheffield.
As well as hitting huge areas of population, the documents revealed that 23 RAF bases, 14 USAF bases, 10 radar stations, eight military command centres and 13 Royal Navy bases could also be hit.
The declassified documents held by the National Archives predict up to 150 nuclear missiles and an unknown number of nuclear launches from submarines could hit the UK.
Although these simulations from the 1960s are likely to have changed since the office of Edward Heath, the initial targets show how tensions between Russia and the UK has spanned decades.
But just yesterday (Feb 24) Vladamir Putin appeared to make a veiled threat of nuclear attack on any nation which tries to retaliate against Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In a public broadcast at 5.45am in Moscow the Russian leader claimed there would be consequences “never seen in history”.
He said: "Whoever tries to impede us, let alone create threats for our country and its people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and lead to the consequences you have never seen in history.
“All relevant decisions have been taken. I hope you hear me.”
Russia has already boasted a stockpile of 6,200 nuclear weapons with the biggest nuke it has ever tested being the Tsar Bomba.
One nuclear bomb dropped on London could wipe out six million people with the potential fallout engulfing Reading, Bedford, Southend and could even stretch as far as Brighton.
The test of the Tsar Bomba used only half the 100 megatons of TNT that Russia would prepare for its launch.
The top 20 UK towns and cities listed are:
- Liverpool
- Cardiff
- Manchester
- Southampton
- Leeds
- Newcastle
- Bristol
- Sheffield
- Swansea
- Hull
- Teesside
- London
- Edinburgh
- York
- Nottingham
- Plymouth
- Dover
- Cambridge
- Birmingham
- Belfast
