FEARS Vladimir Putin is preparing for  nuclear war are growing as forces loyal to the Russian leader have been preparing bomb shelters in a Moscow district.

With Putin’s faltering war in Ukraine there are worries the desperate president could launch a nuclear strike on the West.

Work on around 900 shelters has begun in the Russian capital, according to reports on the Telegram channel Baza.

The shelters being constructed include places to sleep, cupboards and benches and are equipped with drinking water and medicines are being restocked.

The work is being carried out by city workers at an “active pace,” the report claims.

According to the leaders of the municipality, the shelters must be organised “by yesterday”.

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Work on shelters in other areas of Moscow are also said to be underway.

The upmarket Khamovniki district is thought to already have some 30 shelters that have been cleaned up and equipped with benches, lanterns and first-aid kits.

Some of the shelters are thought to be in disrepair and will need overhauling.

One of the shelters is said to be radiation proof, according to the report.

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Shelters are also being prepared in orphanages, or Family Education Assistance Centres.

Basements are being fitted out with water and electricity and being stocked with food and firewood.

Field kitchens are being constructed, which in the case of an emergency will be installed in the yards.

Separate reports from the Russian news site Podyom claim that Moscow authorities have also started inspecting bomb shelters in schools and hospitals.

One unnamed source told the outlet: “Nobody gave us a specific order [on paper], of course, but they told us orally that there were instructions to get the bomb shelters in working order.

"Right now, in four schools in the centre of Moscow, we’re preparing the sewage drains and installing electricity."

Previously, it was revealed that outside the sports centre “Extreme” Moskomsport on Hospital Val signs had been put up saying shelter and directing people to the basement.

According to employees of the centre, the signs had appeared recently, under orders of the management.

The news comes after it was revealed last month that growing fears about a nuclear war had sent Russians into a frenzy of buying bunkers for their protection.

Authorities have also issued commands for a housing cooperative to clear a local bomb shelter currently being used for cars.

The instruction said it had to be "brought into line with the direct purpose of a civil defence facility".

Moscow city government is demanding efforts "to increase the readiness of collective protective means”.

And the head of a homeowners’ association in the capital was summoned to the police and told “there was an order to check all bomb shelters”, reported the IStories media outlet.

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Similar orders have been reported in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, as well as the Volgograd region and Buryatia republic.

Russia has a total of 16,448 nuclear bomb shelters, according to the country’s Accounts Chamber, mostly built during the Cold War when such facilities were a Soviet priority.

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