Vladimir Putin's raging TV propagandists have called for Britain to be obliterated with nuclear weapons after reports that the UK is set to give Ukraine permission to use its Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia.
Kremlin mouthpieces are competing with each other to outline the most shocking and devastating war plans imaginable, with numerous commentators describing how far Russia could go in a nuclear attack.
One proposed dropping Russia's Satan-2 missile on Trafalgar Square, widely described as 'the world's deadliest weapon', while another urged Putin to use the new Poseidon high speed underwater drone and sink the UK under a radioactive tidal wave.
It comes as US intelligence has led to the closure of several Western embassies in Kyiv amid an expected massive Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital following the use of an American ATACMS missile to strike Putin territory.
Russian state media analyst Vladimir Kornilov hit out at Britain newspaper headlines saying Storm Shadows 'are ready for use in Russia' following the Ukrainian deployment of American missiles.
'Look, well, I have to say that, well, our Sarmat [Satan-2] missiles are also ready, always ready for use in Trafalgar Square,' threatened Kornilov.
Hypersonic Sarmat - known in the West as Satan-2 - is a 208-ton intercontinental silo-launched 15,880mph nuclear weapon, the size of a 14-storey tower block, which Putin claims is unstoppable by the West.
The Mach 25 rockets each carry ten nuclear warheads of 750 kilotons and have a 7,500 mile range.
But Putin propagandist-in-chief Vladimir Solovyov said there was a better way to sink Britain, with the new Poseidon drone, a weapon unmatched by Western technology.
Russian state media analyst Vladimir Kornilov hit out at Britain newspaper headlines saying Storm Shadows 'are ready for use in Russia'
MP and TV presenter Yevgeny Popov warned: 'Special attention to Britain, our traditional enemy, as a significant part of the [Russian] Northern Fleet will work against [the UK]'
Hypersonic Sarmat - known in the West as Satan-2 - is a 208-ton intercontinental silo-launched 15,880mph nuclear weapon
It is far from clear that Poseidon with an 'unlimited range' is properly tested
Vladimir Putin on Tuesday morning signed off on an updated version of the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine that broadens the scope for Moscow to turn to its fearsome atomic arsenal
'I want to see the Poseidon [high-speed underwater nuclear drone] - it's so beautiful,' he told state TV viewers across Russia's 11 time zones.
'This is the beauty of this [tidal] wave, the glow of the radiation, and then [Britain] is washed away like this.
'These stables of British imperialism are washed away - amazing.'
Like Satan-2, it is far from clear that Poseidon with an 'unlimited range' is properly tested. Nevertheless, Putin sees it as part of his new nuclear arsenal and classifies it a 'super weapon'.
It is designed to carry strategic nuclear warheads of up to 100 megatons and could unleash catastrophic destruction.
It could also be deployed with lesser firepower as a tactical weapon.
Some reports say its underwater speed is up to 115mph, with a capability to operate at depths below 3,000 ft.
It is due to be ready soon but details of tests remain
Meanwhile Putin's propaganda warriors have pushed out footage seen in July which listed seven specific targets in England and Scotland, while also stressing 'all European capitals are at risk'.
Hardline MP and TV presenter Yevgeny Popov warned: 'Special attention to Britain, our traditional enemy, as a significant part of the [Russian] Northern Fleet will work against [the UK].
Kornilov proposed dropping Russia's apocalypse Satan-2 missile on Trafalgar Square
'I want to see the Poseidon [high-speed underwater nuclear drone] - it's so beautiful,' Putin propagandist-in-chief Vladimir Solovyov said
'Under attack Washington has put not only London, but also Manchester, Birmingham, the largest naval base Devonport, the Clyde in Scotland, where the King stores his Trident nuclear missiles, Portsmouth as well as Chatham Dockyard in the county of Kent.
'This is Britain at its most vulnerable.
'Basically, all it would take is three missiles and this civilization would collapse.'
He threatened: 'It is not difficult to guess the geography of the response if White House [plans] become a reality.
'All European capitals are at risk [from] our missiles in Kaliningrad - Berlin, Warsaw, all the Baltic republics, Paris, Bucharest, Prague….
'Of course, also the American bases in Germany….Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Patch Barracks [Stuttgart], Spangdahlem, [and] Ramstein.'
He accused the 'Western bloc' of misreading the impact on Russia of the US move, highlighted at the recent NATO summit in the US.
'No reaction, no reflection and no attempt to analyse the implications,' he said.
'A quick study of the missiles' specifications is enough to realise that the US is throwing Europe into the crucible of a world war with guaranteed mutual destruction.'
Putin yesterday signed off on an updated version of the Kremlin's nuclear doctrine that broadens the scope for Moscow to turn to its fearsome atomic arsenal on the same day that US-made missiles rained down on Russian soil.
The new document, first announced in September, allows Putin's strategic forces to deploy their devastating weapons if Russia or Belarus is threatened by a non-nuclear nation supported by a nuclear power.
Threats that could warrant a nuclear response from Russia's leadership include an attack with conventional missiles, drones or other aircraft, according to the updated document.
Ukraine's strike on an ammunition depot in Russia's Bryansk region yesterday with US-supplied ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) meets these criteria, with Moscow saying that it marks a 'new phase of the Western war'.
ATACMS - Army Tactical Missile - being fired from an M270 Multiple Launch Rocket Syste
'This is, of course, a signal that they want to escalate,' Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said, while foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said attempts by NATO countries to facilitate Ukrainian missile strikes deep inside Russia 'would not go unpunished'.
But Ukraine's foreign ministry issued a defiant statement in spite of the Kremlin's nuclear sabre-rattling, declaring that 'Ukraine will never submit to the occupiers and the Russian military will be punished for violating international law'.
'We need peace through strength, not appeasement,' the ministry added, as Volodymyr Zelensky called on Kyiv's allies to 'force' Moscow into a 'just peace' and vowed his troops would 'never surrender'.
Snowflakes are illuminated during live firing of the British Army's new Archer Mobile Howitzer gun near Rovaniemi in the Arctic Circle
The US provision of ATACMS to Ukraine for strikes in Russia along with shipments of anti-personnel mines suggests the Biden administration is scrambling to leave Ukraine on the best possible footing ahead of Donald Trump's return to the White House.
In Eastern Ukraine, Russia's forces are steadily grinding towards the logistics hub of Pokrovsk having taken large swathes of territory in the Donetsk region in recent months.
Putin's army took 185 square miles of Ukrainian territory in October, a record since the first weeks of the conflict in March 2022, according to an analysis of data provided by the real-time conflict tracker from the Institute for the Study of War.
There are mounting concerns that Trump could push for a hasty ceasefire requiring Ukraine to cede significant portions of its territory - a prospect that leaves both sides fighting to capture as much land as possible to strengthen their position ahead of negotiations.