Army ‘must be war-fit’ in face of Putin threat
President Putin will face “severe consequences” if he unleashes nuclear weapons on Ukraine, Downing Street has warned, as the head of the armed forces said troops need to be prepared for war.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace flew to Washington this week for talks with his US counterpart amid concerns that the Russian president could follow through on his threats to detonate a nuclear warhead.
Some senior government figures believe that although Putin is unlikely to carry out a nuclear strike on land, he could use a nuclear weapon as a show of force by firing it into the Black Sea.
A spokesman for the prime minister did not comment on Wallace’s meeting but said: “We are very clear with Putin that the use of nuclear weapons will lead to severe consequences.”
He added: “I would guide away from speculating on this as an issue. I think the public need to be reassured that we are taking a strong lead in this area. I think it would be a mistake to be drawn into speculation on this rather than focusing on what we are seeing day by day, which is a senseless and barbaric attack on civilians across Ukraine.”
Wallace pulled out of a planned session with the Commons defence committee on Tuesday to take part in talks with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin.
A senior defence source said: “There has been a lot of speculation about why the defence secretary travelled to Washington. As we approach winter in Ukraine with their successes on the battleground against Russian forces and in light of Putin’s recent actions, it was important to meet face to face with the US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, and others from the US administration to discuss our shared security concerns.”
Head of the armed forces Admiral Sir Tony Radakin joined Wallace on the trip. It is understood both returned yesterday. In a speech at Mansion House last night, Radakin said that Putin had been left with few options because of his failing war in Ukraine and his nuclear rhetoric was “worrying and deeply irresponsible”. However, he said it was a sign of weakness and that the international community needed to remain strong and united.
He said that the armed forces needed to be “match fit, or more to the point, ‘war-fit’, to meet the demands of state-on-state competition, better supported by more resilient supply chains and a greater capacity in our industrial base”.
Delivering the lord mayor’s defence and security lecture, Radakin, who was promoted to the role last year, said that Putin’s problems were mounting, with his troops ceding ground and running out of ammunition.
He said the Russian leader had undermined his country’s status as a great power, “mortgaged his country’s economic future, repelled its neighbours in the ‘near abroad’ and even China is losing patience”.
Yesterday Putin declared martial law in the annexed regions of Ukraine, stepping up Kremlin control.
Earlier in the week Wallace told The Times that Putin “knows no limits” and said Britain was taking his nuclear threats seriously because he was not a man that acted rationally.
