A top military official has declared the British Army would be ready to fight Vladimir Putins forces tonight if Russia were to invade another European nation in addition to Ukraine.
Lt. Gen Sir Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British defence staff, told the House of Commons defence committee yesterday afternoon: If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight.
I dont 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.
His bold statement followed hours after Russias ambassador to the UK warned that Ukraines use of Storm Shadow missiles on Russian territory means Britain is now directly involved in this war.
This firing cannot happen without NATO staff, British staff as well, Andrei Kelin told Sky News this afternoon - a day after British-made rockets battered a military base in Russias Kursk region.
However, Magowans declaration belies the state of the UKs military capabilities.
In May, he acknowledged that Britains soldiers would run out of ammunition and equipment in a war against Putins Russia in less than two months.
Meanwhile, Defence Secretary John Healey is currently embarking on a military cost-cutting mission, having announced the decommissioning of two former Royal Navy flagships, a frigate and a pair of support tankers earlier this week.
Healey, who was appointed Defence Secretary by Sir Keir Starmer following Labours election victory in July, said he was dealing with a dire inheritance from the Tories, the state of the forces often hidden to Parliament, billion-pound black holes in defence plans, taxpayers funds being wasted and military morale down to record lows.
The Government is carrying out a strategic defence review, which will set out the path to spending 2.5% of gross domestic product on defence – although no timetable has yet been set out for that spending commitment.
A muzzle flash lights up pine trees as the British Armys new Archer Mobile Howitzer gun fires, as British Army soldiers take part in training near Rovaniemi in the Arctic Circle, Finland
Lt. Gen Sir Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British defence staff, told the House of Commons defence committee yesterday afternoon: If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight
Security camera footage out of the central-eastern city of Dnipro showed several projectiles streaking in and detonating in a series of violent, fiery explosions after Russia launched a new hypersonic missile yesterday
A grab taken from handout footage released by the Russian Defence Ministry on March 1, 2024 purports to show the test firing of an ICBM belonging to the countrys nuclear deterrence forces
Magowans declaration of Britains readiness to engage Putins troops comes a day after British and European leaders decried a clear and deeply concerning escalation in the Ukraine conflict when Russian forces struck the city of Dnipro with an advanced hypersonic missile yesterday morning.
Ukraines air force initially reported Russia had deployed an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), with shocking footage showing how multiple warheads rained down over the plants of state-owned aerospace and defence manufacturer Yuzmash.
But Putin later on Thursday said Russia had launched an Oreshnik, one of its newest intermediate-range missiles.
He said it travelled at 10 times the speed of sound, rendering Ukrainian air defences powerless to shoot it down.
Russian sources said the range was 5,000km (3,100 miles), allowing Russia to strike most of Europe and the west coast of the United States.
The Pentagon meanwhile said the missile that Russia fired was based on the RS-26 Frontier - a nuclear-capable ICBM - but had been redesigned.
US defence officials also confirmed Moscow had warned Washington ahead of the launch through nuclear risk reduction channels to avoid triggering early launch warning alarms and a possible response.
The shocking strike on Ukraine comes as NATO holds its largest-ever artillery exercise just 70 miles from the Russian border where the British Army is testing what military chiefs have described as a game-changing weapon.
Finland, which joined the military alliance last year, is hosting up to 3,600 soldiers from 28 nations for the exercise, known as Dynamic Front.
Live fire drills began on Sunday in the northern Lapland region, and are part of a series of exercises, with further ones planned in Estonia, Germany, Romania and Poland.
The British Army is using the opportunity to put its Archer 155-mm guns to the test, weapons which can release high explosive shells or GPS-guided munitions and hit targets 30 miles away.
The guns have been labelled a battlefield game-changer by British troops, with Major Barney Ingram telling the i newspaper that you can, realistically, with this capability, neutralise most targets.
The British Armys new Archer Mobile Howitzer gun, as British Army soldiers take part in training near Rovaniemi in the Arctic Circle, Finland. Picture date: Tuesday November 19, 2024
Rescue workers put out a fire of a building which was heavily damaged by a Russian strike on Dnipro, Ukraine
Zelensky said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin was using Ukraine as a weapons-testing ground
Security cameras caught the moment several projectiles streaked through the night sky and triggered a series of violent explosions in Dnipro.
The ferocity, speed and coordinated nature of the salvos suggested the explosions were caused by MIRVs (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles).
MIRVs are typically a feature of nuclear ICBMs designed for full-scale attacks on targets thousands of miles away.
Experts said the use of an ICBM or advanced hypersonic weapon to deliver a non-nuclear strike would be very costly, but would serve to illustrate how Moscow could dramatically escalate the conflict.
Dr Ruth Deyermond, Senior Lecturer in Post-Soviet Security at Kings College London, told MailOnline: This strike has no obvious military value - they could achieve the same objectives without sacrificing (an ICBM or advanced missile).
It looks very much as if its signalling to the West what Russia could do if it chose to - launch a nuclear-armed missile. But its actually a sign of weakness, she added.
The Russian government knows what would happen to it if they did attempt to use any kind of nuclear weapon, so they have to resort to bluffing.
Dr Mattias Eken, a defence and security analyst at RAND Europe, added: The reported range of 700km falls short of the typical intercontinental range, casting doubt on its classification as a full-fledged ICBM.
Nevertheless, such a strike could have a symbolic value, he concluded.
It seems that the message that Putin and Russia is trying to send to the West is: we too have missiles that can strike anywhere in the world. Particularly after the US allowed ATACMS/Storm Shadow to target Russia, Putin may have felt compelled to demonstrate Russias ability to use long-range missiles as well.
Footage of the strike was released as Russia also threatened to strike US air bases in Poland with advanced weapons in an alarming statement yesterday.
Moscow said the opening of a new US ballistic missile defence base in Redzikowo near the Baltic coast will increase the overall level of nuclear danger, adding it could be considered a future target.
(The base) has been added to the list of priority targets for potential destruction which, if necessary, can be executed with a wide range of advanced weapons, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova concluded.
Zakharovas statement came minutes after Ukraines air force first reported the possible ICBM strike, claiming it was fired from a base in Russias southern Astrakhan region on the Caspian Sea.
In a bizarre twist, Zakharovas press conference was interrupted by a phone call in which the speaker appeared to tell the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman about the ICBM strike before instructing her not to comment on it.
A mans voice was faintly heard saying: Masha, ballistic missile strikes on Yuzhmash.
The Westerners are talking about it now. Dont comment at all.
Yesterdays strike was carried out after Ukraine used US ATACMS and British Storm Shadow missiles to demolish targets inside Russia following approval by Sir Keir Starmer this week - something Moscow had warned for months would be seen as a major escalation.
Defence Secretary Healey refused to be drawn into confirming reports that Kyiv deployed the British long-range missiles, but said Ukraine faces a serious moment in its defence against the Russian invasion.
The Prime Minister meanwhile insisted UK support for Ukraine is always for self-defence and compliant with international law, as he accused Putin of wanting destruction not peace.
Russia this morning allegedly fired an intercontinental ballistic missile as part of a brutal barrage of targets in Ukraine
Maria Zakharova took an urgent phone call and was urged not to comment on the reports
Russias military had until yesterday deployed smaller, slower Iskander missiles and a handful of hypersonic Kinzhal projectiles alongside hundreds upon hundreds of attack drones to destroy targets in Ukraine.
The advanced missile that struck Dnipro on Thursday morning reportedly launched from the Kapustin Yar range in Astrakhan in Southern Russia - roughly 700km from Dnipro.
Putins forces used the region as a launchpad for strikes during the intervention in Syria in 2015.
Ukrainska Pravda cited anonymous sources saying the rocket may have been an RS-26 Frontier, a solid-fuelled, nuclear-capable rocket that was first successfully tested in 2012.
The Frontier missile weighs roughly 36 tonnes with a maximum range of up to 3,600 miles/5,800km. It flies at such a speed that Ukraines rudimentary air defence systems would be powerless to intercept its warheads.
The Pentagon later said that the missile used by Russia was indeed based on the RS-26, but was not a fully fledged ICBM.
The Storm Shadow missiles struck a building with an underground control room where Russian and North Korean military officials are believed to be holed up
Russian President Vladimir Putin, listens to a report by First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, during a one-on-one meeting at the Kremlin, November 20, 2024
The Russian attack targeted enterprises and critical infrastructure in Dnipro as well as other sites across the country, Ukraines air force said, at a time of escalating moves in the 33-month-old war.
The Kremlin deployed Tu-95MS strategic bombers to launch cruise missiles and MiG-31K fighters to fire hypersonic Kinzhal rockets in a calculated bid to plunge Ukraine into darkness as a bitter winter approaches.
In Dnipro, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said the missile attack caused damage to an industrial enterprise and set off fires. No casualty figures were available.
Some Russian missiles reportedly struck the towns of Kremenchuk and Myrhorod, while areas in Kyiv, Odesa and Sumy regions suffered blackouts as the electrical grid gave out.
The mass bombardment of Ukraine prompted NATO to scramble F-16 warplanes over neighbouring Poland as ground-based air defence and radar systems were put on the highest state of readiness amid the attack.
Ukraines air force reported air defences shot down six Kh-101 cruise missiles.
Responding to Zakharovas statements on the opening of the Redzikowo air defence base, a Polish foreign ministry spokesman pointed out there were no nuclear missiles at the facility and that it is purely defensive in nature.
Such threats will certainly serve as an argument to strengthen Polands and NATOs air defences, and should also be considered by the United States, added the spokesman, Pawel Wronski.
The facility, opened on November 13, forms part of a broader NATO missile shield called Aegis Ashore designed to intercept short- and intermediate-range ballistic weapons.
Aegis Ashore constitutes a network of bases that use radar tracking systems from the US Navys Aegis warships to identify and shoot down oncoming missiles with American SM-3 rockets.
There are currently two sites online, one in Romania and one in Poland, reinforced by an early warning system based in Turkey and US Navy ships in Spain.
The RS-26 or Frontier missiles weigh up to 50 tonnes and have a 3,600 mile-range, although they have never been used in combat
The wide-ranging attacks by Russia this morning come on Ukraines annual Day of Dignity and Freedom
Poland scrambled NATO F-16 aircraft this morning for air defence patrols amid the attack on Ukraine
The Aegis Ashore Poland missile defence system on the occasion of an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Naval Support Facility in Redzikowo, Poland in November 13, 2024
Polands President Andrzej Duda speaks standing in front of the deck house of the Aegis Ashore missile defence system is seenin Redzikowo, northern Poland in November 13, 2024
The wide-ranging attacks by Russia were carried out on Ukraines annual Day of Dignity and Freedom, honouring the beginning of its struggle for independence and liberty.
President Zelensky said in an address Thursday: We remember the real price of freedom for Ukraine.
And we do not forget all our people of different times who fought for Ukraine and became a model of dignity for the world.
Thanks to people, thanks to the desire of our people to preserve freedom and independence for Ukraine, our state will always be on the political map of the world. Always free and sovereign.
The bombardment came a day after Kyiv launched UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles at targets in Kursk.
Fragments of the missiles that struck a military facility in the Russian town of Marino were recovered by military bloggers on Wednesday afternoon, with unverified pictures shared widely on social media.
The Mail understands the attacks, which followed Ukraine firing US-supplied ATACMS missiles on Tuesday, were personally approved by Sir Keir Starmer.
Russia officially acknowledged the strikes, saying its air defences shot down two of the projectiles along with six HIMARS rockets and 67 drones.
Russian military bloggers said 18 Russian and North Korean servicemen were killed in that attack with dozens more injured, though the defence ministry has not commented.
Asked to confirm reports Storm Shadow had been used by Ukraine, Defence Secretary John Healey said: I wont be drawn on the operational details of the conflict.
It risks both operational security and in the end the only one that benefits from such a public debate is President Putin.