Vladimir Putin may be preparing for a war with the West by building underground hospitals and boosting conscription, an expert fears.
The Daily Mirror understands the Russian president also plans to blow up the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine to goad NATO into a reaction.
The move could spark devastating floods across the south of the country.
Moscow’s forces are believed already to have mined the 30 metres tall structure and want to “test” the West’s response if they blow it up.
The threat came as two Russian pilots were killed yesterday after their jet crashed into a house and burst into flames in the Siberian city of Irkutsk.
A senior European security source said: “This is not an escalation as far as nuclear strikes but it does approach the threshold for a NATO reaction.
“ Russia knows it will face serious, so far unpublicised consequences if it launches a nuclear strike so it is testing the West with atrocities just below threshold.
“So the dam being blown, if that happens, will test western resolve and Russia will keep pushing until it finds NATO’s tolerance limits.
“It is ludicrous to think anyone believes Russian false flag preparations to blame Ukraine for blowing the dam will be believed.
“And if the West reacts, that could mean a military confrontation with Russia and a serious escalation, if not then Russia will keep prodding and probing for a reaction and then hopefully de-escalate. If not then it is all-out war.”
Basements in Russian cities and bunkers are allegedly being converted into emergency health facilities for civilians. Sources also claim Russia’s legislative lower house the Duma wants to increase conscription from a few months to two years - and include women in the mobilisation.
The two Russian pilots who died were in a Sukhoi-30 military jet on a test flight.
Video showed the plane diving almost vertically before crashing into a two-storey house. Officials said no one on the ground was hurt.
Putin’s missiles yesterday pounded Ukraine’s energy grid in a blitz of strikes.
The attack caused blackouts across the country leaving 1.5 million homes in Kyiv without electricity. There are fears the blackouts could last weeks. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said most Russian missiles and drones were shot down.
In his nightly address he added: “The geography of this latest mass strike is very wide. Of course we don’t have the technical ability to knock down 100% of the Russian missiles and strike drones.
“I am sure that we will achieve that, with help from our partners. Already now, we are downing a majority of cruise missiles, a majority of drones.”
Mr Zelensky told how Ukrainian forces had downed 20 missiles and more than 10 Iranian-made Shahed drones on Saturday. Almost a third of the country’s power stations and other energy facilities have been destroyed in a wave of air strikes since Monday last week.
Authorities in Kherson have ordered people to evacuate immediately as the Ukrainian army approaches.
Officials warned of an “increased danger of massive shelling of the city and the threat of terrorist attacks”.
It came amid claims Russian officers and collaborators were leaving under the guise of the civilian evacuation.
