After the Bay of Pigs/Cuban missile crisis in 1963 (very much a squeaky bum moment in history), there was a direct line installed from Moscow to the White House - the fabled ‘Red Phone’ - so that if there were missile testing/use from either side that could be detected & mistaken for a nuke capable delivery weapon, neither side would accidentally kneejerk press the button.
So, last week when Russian launched the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (not a InterContinenal Ballistic Missile, the US were told by Russia 30 MINUTES BEFORE THE LAUNCH that they were going to fire the IRMB into Ukraine.
It stops a ‘Whoops Apocalypse’ moment. And it’s also why during the NATO Able Archer exercise in 1983, thanks to a communication break down, it was only the good sense of a Russian Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov which means we’re all here on the Earth, not as dust floating in the upper atmosphere.
Does this mean there will be no WW3? Of course not. But it would be more likely for Russia to cause disruption via cyber attacks targeting our energy infrastructure/banking/NHS/governmental systems than an all our, boots on the ground conflict.
To start, Russia have had to bring in 10k of North Korean soldiers & weapons as their troops have suffered very heavy losses as they’re struggling to supply their troops at the front with equipment. Cyber warfare is far easier (and cheaper) to cause disruption to NATO countries supporting Ukraine.
Also, nukes are bloody expensive. And the tenet of Mutually Assured Destruction still stands. It would suicide for both Russia & their nuclear supporters (North Korea & China, although China have been suspiciously quiet in their allegiance with Russia for a while now) and the nuclear capable NATO forces (Britain, the US, France) if an all out nuclear war started.
Could there be a proxy war between Russia and NATO? Possibly. Late 70s/early 80s there was the war in Afghanistan with the US & their allies on one side & Russia on the other, likewise Iran, and further back Korea & Vietnam. Even the recent Gulf Wars/Afghan wars could be considered proxy wars between the pair. It could be considered that Ukraine is also a proxy war (Ukraine being supported by being supplied by weapons by countries that also happen to be in NATO, and Russia being sent NK soldiers to go to the front line).
As for preparedness, if you can it’s always wise to have supplies in for a few days. We are vulnerable to bad weather events (such as Storm Bert just this weekend), plus cyber attacks aren’t unknown (the malware event that hit the London NHS trusts only a few weeks ago immediately sprung to mind). The UK govt have a whole site giving advice on preparedness here https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/get-prepared-for-emergencies/
The tl;dr of my ramblings is this. The chance of a full on nuke conflict isn’t zero (because these weapons exist) but it is low. There may be (yet another) proxy conflict. There may be Russia or their allies fiddling with our critical infrastructure/hacking to inconvenience us. Putin is a dictator (who seems to have rather a lot of people of influence falling out of windows over there if they speak out against him, I think the term is defenestration) but I don’t think he’s a suicidal madman.
Get a few tins of beans in just in case of disruption by all means (as advised if you can anyways), but it’s not worth worrying to the point of obsession about an imminent nuclear war & start digging a shelter in the back garden. The planet would be bollocksed if an all out nuclear war happens anyway, so why worry?
Note - I’m 52 & lived through the Cold War, with Threads, The Day After, When The Wind Blows, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, 99 Red Balloons, news about US nukes based on our shores & four minutes warnings as the soundtrack to my teens. Maybe that’s why we partied so hard back then? Obsessing over every news report - and mainstream media peddling WE’RE ALL GOING TO DIE headlines lately, looking at you Daily Mail, scaremongering bastards - takes too much energy from what we all should be doing & that’s enjoying today, with our loved ones, doing the best that we can. Us fleshy meat tubes are never guaranteed a tomorrow, so why waste the time we have worrying about what might happen?