Satan Missiles
Visitors look at a SS-18 SATAN intercontinental ballistic missile at the Strategic Missile Forces museum near Pervomaysk, some 300 km (186 miles) south of Kiev, August 22, 2011. Reuters/Gleb Garanich

Experts warn that if Russia would unleash just five of its SS-18 missile, also known as the Satan, it could destroy the east coast of the US and kill more than 4 million people. Russia is believed to have 55 Satans, its most powerful missile, part of the largest nuclear stockpile in the world which could make the nuclear bombs dropped during World War II in Japan pale in comparison.

Just one SS-18 missile, in an apocalyptic nuclear strike, could wipe out 75 percent of New York for thousands of years, Dr Paul Craig Roberts, former assistant secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy, warns. He explains that the SS-18 missiles could carry nuclear warheads with payloads of up to 20,000 kilotons, Dailystar reports.

It is more than a thousand times powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Roberts says at maximum payload, a direct hit on New York is capable of killing 4.5 million people, injuring another 3.6 million and send radioactive fallout covering over 600 miles. It could also be armed with 10 smaller nukes of 550 kilotons each that can spread across a wide area and almost impossible to intercept.

Roberts, in an article for the Centre for Research on Gloablization, warned Russia could easily annihilate NATO and lead to the total collapse of the western alliance. Based on FEMA predictions from the Cold War, the targets of a Russian nuclear attack would include cities with huge populations such as New York, Philadelphia, Miami, Boston, Jacksonville and Washington DC.

Aleppo Battle
Rebel fighters ride a military vehicle on the outskirts of Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) controlled Tell Rifaat town, northern Aleppo province, Syria October 22, 2016. Picture taken October 22, 2016. Reuters/Khalil Ashawi

A global war is imminent and could begin in two weeks, a Russian official predicted, as Russia starts air attacks on Aleppo. On Sunday, the three-day humanitarian ceasefire in Aleppo ended, but residents did not leave the war-torn city’s eastern area. CNN reports that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it was not aware of any resident who left Aleppo using any of the eight approved evacuation routes.

Residents opted not to leave because they fear being ambush on the routes or suspect the Syrian and Russian governments encourage evacuations to clear rebels from the area. Fight resumed on Sunday as mortars peppered Khan Touman, a southern village of Aleppo, USA Today reports. The missiles were Grad rockets freshly supplied by backers of the Syrian government.

During the three-day ceasefire, relief agencies failed to bring aid to the eastern districts of Aleppo held by rebels because of lack of security guarantees from both warring parties, causing the cancellation of planned medical evacuations, VOA reports.