British soldiers during a NATO exercise (file pic) (Image: GETTY)
The British Army would “fight tonight” should a new war in erupt, a senior military officer said.
Lieutenant General Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British Defence staff, said the UK Armed Forces would be ready to face their Russian counterparts at any point, if needed.
Speaking to the House of Commons defence committee on Thursday, Lt Gen Magowan said: “If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight.
“I don’t think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight, then we would meet them in that fight.”
This staunch warning to Moscow came as .
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On Thursday, claimed Moscow had fired a new missile – the Oreshnik – at a Ukrainian military facility.
The hypersonic missile strike, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said, was a warning to the West.
Earlier this week, Putin himself issued an even chillier threat, as he said in a televised address Moscow .
This came after it emerged US President allowed to fire long-range ATACMS into .
Vladimir Putin is ramping up tensions (Image: Getty)
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On Wednesday, it was also claimed that Ukrainians struck targets in the Russian region of Kursk .
Despite the rising tensions – and the claim by the Russian ambassador to the UK that in – Prime Minister Sir stressed the country is “not at war”.
He told Radio Bristol: “We’re not at war, but certainly is, because has been invaded by , and that war has now been going on for just over 1,000 days.
“That’s 1,000 days of aggression from and 1,000 days of sacrifice for , and that is why we’ve said consistently that we stand by . We cannot allow Putin to win this war.”