NATO must be ready for a war in the next four years, Germany’s defence chief warned, as he claimed Russia is gearing up to attack.
Keir Starmer meanwhile announced to meet Putin’s “immediate and pressing threat”;.
General Carsten Breuersaid is facing a “very serious threat”; from Russia – the most severe he has seen in his 40 years of service.
Breuersaid explained that was producing weaponry at a rapid pace – with around 1,500 battle tanks and four million rounds of artillery each year.
Crucially, not all of this is being directed to – possibly indicating munitions are being stockpiled for use against Nato.
He said: “There’s an intent and there’s a build up of the stocks.”;
Breuer doubled down on his warning that “analysts are assessing 2029”; as Russia‘s potential timeframe for an assault, concluding: “we have to be ready by 2029”;.
“If you ask me now, is this a guarantee that’s not earlier than 2029? I would say no, it’s not. So we must be able to fight tonight.”;
In April, the general warned that Putin will have by next year, and that he wants to “weaken and destroy Nato as an alliance and discredit our Western form of society”;.
The Baltic states of , Latvia and Estonia are particularly vulnerable, he said.
Breuer said: “The Baltic States are really exposed to the Russians, right?
“And once you are there, you really feel this [...] in the talks we are having over there.”;
The Estonians reportedly use the analogy of being close to a wildfire and being able to “feel the heat, see the flames and smell the smoke”;.
Germany and other European nations “probably see a little bit of smoke over the horizon and not more,”; Breuer said.
The general added a call to action, urging fellow Nato nations to rebuild their militaries.
He said: “What we have to do now is really to lean in an to tell everybody: ‘Hey, ramp up [...] get more into it because we need it.
“We need it to be able to defend ourselves and therefore also to build up deterrence.”;
Recognising this need, the British government announced that the UK will build a dozen new nuclear submarines armed with Tomohawk missiles.
Thewill also be bolstered, withsaying the deterrent is “whatfears most”;.
The government is in talks with US officials over the move, which would be the UK’s biggest deterrent development since the.
The news came as part of the strategic defence review, designed to get Britain moving “to war-fighting readiness”;.
Starmer will say during a trip to Scotland: “From the supply lines to the front lines, this government is four-square behind the men and women upholding our freedom and security.”;
Up to 12 nuclear-powered subs will be built under the AUKUS security partnership with theUSand.
They are conventionally-armed withand are mainly used as intelligence gatherers, lurking off hostile coastlines to intercept communications.
They can also deploy special forces and.
Russia’s weapon stocks took a hit over the weekend when a blitzed 34 percent of Putin’s cruise missile carriers, according to .
And a raging Putin is now said to be preparing for
