The world is the "closest to global catastrophe it has ever been," leading scientists announced on Tuesday as the Doomsday Clock was updated for the first time following the outbreak of the Ukraine war.
On Tuesday, the Doomsday Clock, which is a visual representation of how close humanity is thought to be to self-destruction, was set to 90 seconds to midnight. The time of midnight is "apocalypse" imagery, according to the Clock's creators, used to "convey threats to humanity and the planet."
Moving the clock from 100 seconds to midnight, as it has been since 2020, to 90 seconds was "largely, though not exclusively, because of the mounting dangers in the war in Ukraine," the Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said as the clock's time was unveiled.
"We move the clock forward, the closest it has ever been to midnight," the Board announced. "It is now 90 seconds to midnight."
This is a "time of unprecedented danger," the Bulletin's team said in a press release accompanying the change.
The clock was created by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists back in 1947. Each year, the time on the clock is reset as an updated symbol of how close the world is to annihilation from manmade technologies, such as nuclear weaponry and the effects of climate change.
Tuesday's announcement was the first time the clock has been updated since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
As the war in Ukraine approaches its one-year anniversary, "Ukraine's sovereignty and broader European security arrangements that have largely held since the end of World War II are at stake," the board said.
Moscow's "thinly veiled threats to use nuclear weapons" emphasize the "terrible risk" of accidental or intentional escalation, the board continued, adding that "the possibility that the conflict could spin out of anyone's control remains high."
The assessment of risk accounts for not only the detonation of nuclear weapons, the team of experts continued, but also for the risks attached to the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor sites in Ukraine.
Shortly after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the board released a statement condemning the Kremlin's actions but did not adjust the timing of the Doomsday Clock. Yet in Tuesday's announcement, the Bulletin's team stressed that the war not only posed a nuclear risk to humanity but also undermines global efforts to stave off the effects of climate change.
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine has increased the risk of nuclear weapons use, raised the specter of biological and chemical weapons use, hamstrung the world's response to climate change, and hampered international efforts to deal with other global concerns," the board wrote.
Sharon Squassoni, co-chair of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board, previously told Newsweek that the war in Ukraine "was front and center in our deliberations" for 2023.
"The risk of escalation from a conventional war to use of nuclear weapons is real. No one knows if Putin sees military or strategic advantages in actual use of nuclear weapons, as opposed to threatening to use them for coercive purposes," Squassoni said.
Robert Socolow, professor emeritus at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Princeton University, told Newsweek ahead of the announcement that in 2023, there is far less "ignorance" around competing nuclear arsenals compared to previous decades, such as during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In 1962, at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Doomsday Clock's hands were set at seven minutes to midnight.
Update 01/24/23 11:36 a.m. ET: This article was updated with more information.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
