The Flash

2025–2027 - The Flashpoint

February 2025 - Full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine resumes; escalates beyond Donbas.
April 2025 - NATO begins covert military support; Polish armored brigades move east under joint operations command.
October 2026 - Tactical battlefield AI deployed in Belarus; civilian drone networks hijacked during Białystok incident.
June 2027 - Kremlin claims NATO violated Russian airspace; U.S. cyber retaliation cripples energy grids in Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg.

2028 - Winter Flash

January 2028 - Nuclear exchange begins: 23 warheads exchanged in under 6 minutes.
Nuclear targets include: Warsaw, Kraków, Lviv, Kaliningrad and Moscow. Smaller targets – NATO bases in Central Europe – hit with smaller tactical strikes.
Putin dies in the Moscow blast; Russian oligarchs immediately seek ceasefire rather than counterattack
The event is later called "The Winter Flash."
Russia collapses into federation of oligarch-controlled territories
NATO seals borders of Central/Eastern Europe – region abandoned to ash and chaos
Cities are evacuated, but systems collapse within 48 hours.
Survivors form splinter groups; military remnants fall back into isolated enclaves.

2029–2042 - Silent Years

Central/Eastern Europe completely isolated from Western world
NATO ceases all formal operations in the containment zone
Civilian governments disband; autonomous defense networks go dark - or rogue.
AI-controlled turrets, drones, and bunkered systems begin enforcing fragmented wartime protocols.
Refugee routes collapse under drone bombardment and looter raids.
Faith, food, and fire become the only remaining currencies.