Meet Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear weapon ever made; 3,300 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb

Yesterday, Poland distributed iodine tablets to its citizens as fears grow over Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Ukraine as fighting between Russia and Ukraine rages on.

Concerned about the fight around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the country handed out iodine pills to regional fire departments to give to people in the event of radioactive exposure, Reuters reported, citing the country’s deputy minister.

However, with the war entering a new phase after Russian President Putin announced a “partial mobilization” effort, many around the world are worried the escalation could lead to an all-out nuclear way. Maybe there is a reason to be worried.  This week, President Putin raised the nuclear threat and warned Western leaders that he wasn’t bluffing about the use of nuclear weapons if the security of Russia is at stake.

In a speech to the Russian people, President Putin said:

“I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and for separate components and more modern than those of Nato countries and when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” And he added: “It’s not a bluff.”

Whether he meant what he said or not, the Russian President’s statement should be taken seriously considering that he started the February 24 war with Ukraine after the Western leaders crossed what he called “the redline’ for violating the 2014 Minsk Agreements.

Whatever the Western position is, the world is closer to World War III than ever. Russia can use nuclear weapons and Putin is not bluffing on his threat. The country has the most nuclear weapons in the world. Russia currently has 6,255 nuclear warheads followed by the United States at 5,550.

Unfortunately, when most Americans think of nuclear weapons, the first things that probably come to their mind are the two nuclear bombs the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Code name Little Boy and Fat Man, the two bombs “killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians.”

Unknown to billions of people around the world, there is another bomb that is 3,300 times more powerful than the bombs the US dropped on Hiroshima. It is the most powerful nuclear weapon ever made. It is the soviet thermonuclear bomb called RDS-220.

Known in the West as Tsar Bomba and in Russia as “King of Bombs,” the name was no exaggeration. Tsar Bomba was detonated in a test over Novaya Zemlya island in the Arctic Ocean on October 30, 1961. The Tsar Bomba bomb yield is estimated to have been roughly 57 megatons, about 3,800 times the power of the 15-kiloton atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

Tzar Bomba

On the day of the test on October 30, 1961, the Tzar Bomba was released on a parachute in order to slow its descent and give the bomber and its crew a chance to escape. When the giant bomb finally detonated about 13,000 feet (4 kilometers) over its target. The blast was so powerful that it destroyed everything within a nearly 22-mile (35-kilometer) radius and generated a mushroom cloud that towered nearly 200,000 feet (60 kilometers).

That was not all. Wooden houses were destroyed, and brick and stone structures in Soviet towns 100 miles (160 kilometers) from ground zero suffered damage.

Below is the historical footage of the Tzar Bomba test.

Below is another video of the test footage.