Germany is working on a ‘bunker plan’ including a smartphone app to direct citizens to the nearest shelter in case of an emergency, after Russian President Putin said he reserved the right to bomb the allies of Ukraine.
The Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe — it really rolls off the tongue — better known as the BKK or the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance has embarked on a project to figure out where the country’s remaining bomb shelters are and how many are still fit for use.
In addition to long-neglected facilities designed for the purpose, officials will also be looking at the potential of converting subway stations, government buildings, and even private basements.
The “bunker plan” is part of the nation’s response to Russia bombing Ukrainian city Dnipro with an unarmed nuclear-capable ballistic missile last week. The weapon was a new design, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed, asserting it is both ‘hypersonic’ and impervious to countermeasures, its launch seen as a clear message to Ukraine’s backers.
President Putin spoke shortly after the launch, where he said the launch had been “in response to the use of American and British long-range weapons.”
Chillingly, in a message to NATO states which have supplied Ukraine with long range precision strike weapons being used to hit military targets inside Russia itself, Putin said: “We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against the military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.”
At the end of the Cold War Germany had 2,000 public shelters. With the fall of the Soviet Union the need for such facilities was seen to have passed and the funding stopped.
Years later many had fallen into disrepair and a sell-off began in the early 2000s, with many becoming private residences, places of business, art galleries, tourist attractions, even hotels and mushroom farms.
The sell-off continued until 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began again and disposals were suspended. Today the Federal government owns just 579 shelters with spaces for 480,000, the Federal Interior Ministry says.
The population of Germany is 84.48 MILLION.
If you think that's bad, consider the fact that the United States of America has precisely ZERO shelters for its population of 335 Million. No Shelters. NONE!
That fact kind of takes the wind out of the sails of people who claim "Mutually Assured Destruction" if the US and Russia go head-to-Head in a nuclear war.
Russia has fully stocked, fully functional shelters for forty million of its 146 Million citizens. We here in America have . . . . . . none.
Russia survives. We do not. Period. Full stop.
