Sweden tells residents to arrange for WAR: Five million households get pamphlets on the right way to stockpile meals and water… as Trump Jr accuses Biden of making an attempt to start out World War Three

Sweden is sending out some five million pamphlets to residents urging them to prepare for the possibility of war, with instructions on how to stockpile food and water amid growing fears of a conflict with Russia.

It comes as neighbouring Finland launched a new preparedness website and after Norwegians recently received booklets instructing them on how to manage on their own for a week in the event of war and other threats.

Both Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment to join the US-led military alliance NATO in the wake of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Since the start of the war, Stockholm has repeatedly urged Swedes to prepare both mentally and logistically for the possibility of war, citing the serious security situation in its vicinity.

The booklet ‘If Crisis or War Comes’, sent by the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB), contains information about how to prepare for emergencies such as war, natural disasters, or cyber attacks.

It is an updated version of a pamphlet that Sweden has issued five times since World War II. However, underlining the seriousness of the potential threat, the book is twice the size of previous years.

Additionally, one message has been brought forward from the middle of the booklet: ‘If Sweden is attacked by another country, we will never give up. All information to the effect that resistance is to cease is false.’

The booklet ‘If Crisis or War Comes’ contains information about how to prepare for emergencies, including war

A soldier is pictured during a military exercise with Swedish and foreign military units in May

The previous version sent out in 2018 made headlines, as it was the first time it had been sent to Swedes since 1961 at the height of the Cold War.

‘The security situation is serious and we all need to strengthen our resilience to face various crises and ultimately war,’ MSB director Mikael Frisell said in a statement.

Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said last month that as the global context had changed, advice to Swedish households had to be reviewed to reflect the reality of the situation. 

The 32-page document outlines with simple illustrations the threats facing the Nordic nation, including military conflict, natural disasters, and cyber and terror attacks.

It includes tips for preparedness, such as keeping non-perishable food in stock and storing water.

MSB said the updated 2024 version had a stronger focus on preparation for war. Over the next two weeks 5.2 million copies will be sent to Swedish households.

The brochure is available in print in both Swedish and English and digital versions are available in several other languages – including Arabic, Farsi, Ukrainian, Polish, Somali and Finnish.

Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin said that as the global context had changed, advice to Swedish households had to be reviewed to reflect the reality of the situation

Sweden’s former army chief Micael Byden alarmed many of his compatriots in January when he urged them to consider their own preparedness.

‘Swedes have to mentally prepare for war,’ he said.

Also on Monday, the government in Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia, launched a website gathering information on preparedness for different crises.

Sweden and Finland were previously considered neutral states, but are now ramping up their readiness for potential conflicts.

Last month, Swedish defence minister Pal Jonson warned that Moscow could attack Sweden as it grapples for control of the Baltic Sea, with Russian naval fleets docked in St Petersburg and Kaliningrad.

Soldiers of the P18 Gotland Regiment of the Swedish Army camouflage their armoured vehicles during a field exercise near Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland on May 17, 2022

‘Russia poses a threat to Sweden, as it does to the rest of NATO. We cannot rule out a Russian attack on our country,’ Jonson told Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

Though the Kremlin’s forces are ‘tied up in Ukraine,’ he said, Vladimir Putin’s government has shown it is ‘willing to take serious military and political risks.’

NATO on Sunday scrambled its warplanes from Poland and Romania to the border with Ukraine after Russia targeted the country’s critical infrastructure with a new onslaught of missile attacks.

The country’s energy operator DTEK announced emergency power cuts at around 7am UK time on Sunday morning affecting the Kyiv, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions following overnight drone strikes.

It said shortly thereafter thermal power plants had been struck. 

Air defences were deployed to intercept drones in Kyiv as residents were urged to take cover, while missiles bound for the west of the stricken country prompted NATO to send warplanes to assist. 

‘Due to the massive attack by the Russian Federation using cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles on objects located, among others, in western Ukraine, Polish and allied [NATO] aircraft have begun operating in our airspace,’ said a statement from the Polish operational command.

‘On-duty fighter pairs were scrambled, and the ground-based air defence and radar reconnaissance systems reached the highest state of readiness.

‘The steps taken are aimed at ensuring safety in areas bordering the threatened areas.’