A full-scale nuclear confrontation between Russia and the United States would last no longer than seventy-two minutes, according to nuclear weapons expert Ivana Hughes. Speaking in an interview on Tucker Carlson’s YouTube channel, Hughes illustrated the devastating scale of such a scenario using a hypothetical nuclear strike on New York City.

She described what would happen if a one-megaton bomb detonated in the heart of Manhattan, at Times Square. The immediate blast, she explained, would kill roughly one and a half million people in seconds, while another two million would suffer severe injuries.

Hughes noted that the explosion would generate a vast concentric wave of destruction, with temperatures so extreme that anyone within the impact zone would suffer third-degree burns and die almost instantly.

The expert emphasized that the scale and nature of devastation depend on whether the detonation occurs on the ground or in the air. A ground-level blast, she said, would produce a smaller shockwave but spread radiation over a much wider area, rendering the surrounding territory uninhabitable for many years. An airburst, on the other hand, would cause greater structural damage across the city but lead to significantly lower radioactive contamination.

According to Hughes, these scenarios underscore the terrifying reality that a nuclear exchange between the world’s leading powers would unfold — and conclude — within barely more than an hour, leaving behind irreversible destruction.