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“A lot will depend on what the peace talks” deliver, but 500,000 experienced Russian troops will be unlikely to want to return to civilian life earning $100 a month, Hanno Pevkur, Estonia’s minister of defense told Breaking Defense.
BRITAIN is in “no position” to fight a war and the government “must” consider conscription now, former UK defence chiefs have warned.
Ex-Nato officers told The Sun that the UK must “wake up” to the looming Russian threat and recruit thousands more soldiers and reserves now – before it’s too late.
British soldiers before the start of Steadfast Dart 2025 exercise – involving some 10,000 troops in three different countries[/caption]
British soldiers practice an assault on February 17, 2025 in Smardan, Romania[/caption]
British troops load a 105MM Howitzer in Norway during war drills[/caption]
Royal Marine Commandos take up position on a beach in Harvstad, Norway after swimming ashore during a training exercise[/caption]
Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade fire a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system toward Russian troops on a front line[/caption]
The UK and Europe have been forced into action after Donald Trump suggested the US will no longer act as our backstop for defence.
European leaders have been scrambling to bolster Nato defences across the Baltics amid the emerging threat of a Vladimir Putin attack – which defence chiefs fear could happen in a few years.
Some nations – including Poland and Latvia – have already brought back conscription to prepare themselves for the worst.
But the UK government disagrees – despite talk of British boots on the ground in Ukraine and Keir Starmer spearheading Europe’s peace efforts.
Cabinet minister and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat MacFaddon has clearly stated the government is “not considering” introducing conscription.
But military chiefs and defence analysts say this mindset is wrong and Labour should rule “nothing out at the moment”.
Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Nato‘s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told The Sun we need to look to conscript now – or it’ll be too late.
The former commander, said the only way Putin can be stopped is if Europe bolsters its defences and creates an effective deterrence.
And that means boosting our forces across Nato‘s eastern flank as well as filling the gap that could be left behind if Trump pulls out of the alliance.
The military chief says as it stands, the British forces stand no chance against Putin’s meatgrinder forces with over a million still prepared to fight.
Colonel Hamish De Bretton Gordon told The Sun that Britain must start conscription “if things go really badly” to avoid surrendering to Putin.
He said: “Militarily, Britain absolutely needs to look at all the options as has been described.
“We are not in a position at the moment to fight a ground war.
“There’s no way we’ll avoid [conscription] unless we surrender, and I don’t think anybody in this country is going to surrender without a fight, especially to Putin.”
With just 70,000 active troops in the British army – the smallest since the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 – De Bretton Gordon said there is a massive need to modernise our military equipment.
He added: “What is important is to modernise our military. Make sure that we have the right kit, enough ammunition, and enough training, and that we are in a position to support Ukraine.
“While conscription will take a huge focus away from our regular military – which we cannot afford at the moment – we need to plan for it.”
And Sir Shirreff said Britain needs to “think the unthinkable” and start planning to prevent a catastrophic event.
Militarily, Britain absolutely needs to look at all the options as has been described. We are not in a position at the moment to fight a ground war
Colonel Hamish De Bretton Gordon
He suggested that the government should look to launch “selective conscription”, which will help the British public get ready for war.
He told The Sun: “The government should rule nothing out at the moment. I can’t see how an army of just 70,000 is going to be able to deter Russia in the long term and maintain the mass it needs.
“If you look at the size of our regular army, it’s tiny and they’d find it difficult to deploy a brigade for any period of time.
“You need mass and you achieve mass through alliance and through creating larger forces but you’ve also got to build up your own army.
“Selective conscription must be looked at. We’ve got to think the unthinkable and one of the things we must be considering is selective conscription.”
While Starmer’s long-awaited defence hike of three per cent was widely welcomed, many experts say it’s “too little too late”.
The cash boost will add an additional £13bn a year to armed forces coffers from 2027, according to the PM.
The capability gap is extremely wide. The PM talks about deploying British forces to Ukraine, but the reality is we couldn’t field a significant military force
Colonel Richard Kemp
“We must change our national security posture, because a generational challenge requires a generational response, that will demand some extremely difficult and painful choices,” he said.
But only £6 billion of that is new money – calculated as the difference between spending 2.3 per cent and 2.5 per cent of GDP.
British MP and Afghan veteran Mike Martin said Starmer’s response fell short of what was needed at this critical moment.
Speaking to The Sun, the former Army Reserve Officer said: “Starmer made a big speech about us facing a ‘generational challenge’.
Servicemen run to a position during the Steadfast Dart 2025 exercise, involving some 10,000 troops in three different countries from nine nations[/caption]
Britain’s F-35B Lightning II new supersonic ‘stealth’ strike fighter flies over the North Sea[/caption]
British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth[/caption]
Barrow’s new Trident sub to be named HMS Dreadnought[/caption]
Sir Keir Starmer has committed an additional £6billion to Britain’s defence budget[/caption]
“And his response was to increase spending by 0.2% and be a bridge between the US and Europe? We’ve been doing that for 60 years.
“It hasn’t been a generational response.”
He urged the government to help the British public grow a military backbone.
“It’s the duty of the government to get the public ready – to lead on this issue,” Martin said.
“We could be looking at conscription after a period of getting the public ready,” the war veteran added.
Meanwhile, veteran Air Marshal Greg Bagwell who served in the RAF for 36 years, said he believes the UK’s military needs an extra 26,000 personnel across all forces – warning that the current 130,000 isn’t enough to put up a good fight.
The airman told The Sun: “There are 70,000 in the Army and 30,000 in the Navy and RAF and you might think that’s not bad to have 130,000.
“But they’re not all going to be on the front line, they’re not all going to be in planes or ships.”
British soldiers practice retreat under fire during an exercise[/caption]
British soldiers at a Nato practice assault in Smardan, Romania[/caption]
A British soldier shoots his gun in Romania as NATO Allied Reaction Force training[/caption]
And he warned that’s not even taking into account the sheer scale of losses Britain and Nato as a whole could suffer on the battlefields against Russian troops.
That means Britain needs to recruit and train up thousands more soldiers and reservists so that there’s a constant backlog of troops ready to fight.
However, there are no signs from the UK government that it is working to fill in the gaping holes.
Lt Col Stuart Crawford, who spent 24 years serving in the Royal Tank Regiment, told The Sun that Britain has been doing the “absolute minimum” to maintain its military, and “the problem is deep”.
He said: “Politicians don’t get it yet… they are still banging on about other priorities for spending.”
Those priorities have to change – and fast, Crawford added.
Retired army officer Colonel Richard Kemp said there is an “extremely wide gap” in the capabilities of the current forces and that he government certainly needs to have plans for conscription “if the situation deteriorates”.
Speaking to The Sun, he said: “The capability gap is extremely wide. The PM talks about deploying British forces to Ukraine, but the reality is we couldn’t field a significant military force.
“The British armed forces need to be dramatically expanded both in manpower and fighting equipment such as ships, tanks and planes.
“We could no longer deploy troops on the scale of the Falklands War, Afghanistan or Iraq.
“We don’t have adequate numbers of infantrymen, armoured vehicles, artillery, engineers, air defences or munitions to keep them fighting.
Royal Marine Commandos take up position on a beach in Harvstad, Norway[/caption]
A British soldier loads his machine gun during an exercise[/caption]
Romanian and British soldiers train in trenches[/caption]
“I’m sure we’re up to strength in diversity officers but they don’t win wars.”
Lt Col Stuart Crawford said the armed forces have “failed to recruit enough people for the last 10 years”, so we must first sort out the regulars.
He said: “The forces are seen as declining organizations – which they are – and have been for at least the last 25 years, because of a lack of resources and funding.”
At the moment, there’s “nowhere to train these people”, “nothing to equip these people with”, and “not enough people to instruct them.”
Colonel Richard agrees, adding the British military needs to rampantly improve recruiting.
He said: “Our ridiculously small armed forces are undermanned. But I believe not only could this be reversed but also the size of the forces increased by fixing two things: recruiting and retention.
“The recruiting organization needs radical change.
“The situation is grave at present, and if the MOD continues to fail to get a grip of recruiting or if the situation deteriorates, the government certainly needs to have plans for conscription.”
ESTONIA, Lithuania and Latvia have all condemned Putin’s grinding war in Ukraine.
These major Russian-speaking cities in each country are of historical importance when thinking about the Russian empire Putin follows on from.
Geographically they also all provide important elements, like coastal locations, sea ports, industrial centres or key borders.
NARVA – ESTONIA
Narva – which sits on the border between Russia and Estonia – was first occupied by Russia between 1558 and 1581, and then again in 1704.
97 per cent of the almost 60,000 residents there speak Russian.
It borders a river between the two countries – not far from Narva Bay.
On the edge of Nato’s eastern flank by the Baltic Sea, Narva is Estonia’s third biggest city.
There is a red line painted on the point where Narva crosses into Russia – on a bridge over the river.
Estonian border police told the BBC that thousands of Ukrainians have escaped war zones and fled into Estonia through this border crossing.
Narva has welcomed Ukrainian refugees during Putin’s war, the BBC reports.
KLAIPEDA – LITHUANIA
Lithunia downgraded its diplomatic relations with Russia after Putin invaded Ukraine.
It closed its Russian consulate in Klaipeda, which is bordered by Latvia, Belarus and Poland on the Baltic Sea coast.
The third largest city in Lithuania, Klaipeda is a major seaport.
It has the highest number of native Russian speakers among Lithuanian cities.
Under the USSR, Russia turned Klaipeda into a valuable marine base.
DAUGAVPILS – LATVIA
This Latvian city, in the south, is bordered closely by Belarus and Lithuania.
It is the second largest city in the country and well populated.
It is also only 75 miles from the Latvian border with Russia.
Daugavpils is historically a major railway and industrial point – and was part of the Russian Empire in the late 1700s.
It has an overwhelmingly Russian speaking population.
Latvia has strongly condemned Putin’s war in Ukraine, and has been added to a list of all EU countries dubbed “unfriendly” by Putin.
To deal with the changing geopolitical landscape, Cingolani called for “stronger alliances” and “industrial synergies.”
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THE year is 2027. Vladimir Putin’s missiles rip through homes across the Baltics, civilians are massacred in the streets and women are raped in bombed-out rooms by Russian soldiers.
British troops will be forced to fight alongside their Nato comrades against the tyrant’s advancing army as the cities are reduced to rubble – resembling destroyed Ukrainian cities like Mariupol.
An explosion erupts from an apartment building after a Russian army tank fired on it in Mariupol, Ukraine[/caption]
Ukrainian emergency employees work at a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol[/caption]
Servicemen run to a position during the Steadfast Dart 2025 exercise, involving some 10,000 troops in three different countries from nine nations[/caption]
Servicemen of the 24th Mechanized Brigade fire a BM-21 Grad multiple-launch rocket system toward Russian troops on a front line[/caption]
Experts fear Putin could invade the Baltics[/caption]
And at the same time, Russian rockets will blow up airports and seaports across Nato’s eastern flank – critical for frontline reinforcement – to isolate the Baltics.
The war-hungry tyrant will have already emerged victorious from Ukraine after signing a Trump-brokered deal with Zelensky on the menu.
Next was installing his puppets in Moldova, Georgia and Romania through rigged elections.
But Putin doesn’t stop there.
Preying on the chaos already created by Trump turning his back on propping up European defence as well as devastating cyber attacks, Putin sets his sights on the Baltics.
Thousands of soldiers will die every day and civilians will become targets for Russian troops as they have been in Putin’s devastating war in Ukraine.
Former Nato commanders told The Sun this is the reality the UK and West could face if Europe doesn’t act now by not only sending more weapons to Ukraine but also bolstering Nato defences across the Baltics.
They said Nato must mobilise and prepare for war so Putin has no doubt that if his men step foot in the Baltics, he will get a “bloody nose and be stopped”.
That will mean Europe and their Canadian allies must stand on their own two feet – without relying on the $4bn US military that has been underpinning Nato’s security for 76 years.
Sir Richard Shirreff, who served as Nato’s Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told The Sun he was “scared” for our future if we don’t step up to the mark now and create an effective deterrence.
The former British military chief scathingly accused Trump of delivering a “mortal blow” to Nato and in the process handing Putin a key foreign policy objective.
“What Trump has done is cast doubt – absolute doubt – on America’s willingness to underpin collective defence under the alliance, which is the foundation of Nato,” Sir Shirreff said.
The former commander, who led British troops in the first Gulf War and Iraq, warned that if Putin gets what he wants in Ukraine through a Trump-brokered deal it will effectively see the “capitulation” of the nation.
“That gives Putin the opportunity to declare victory and to rearm, regenerate and rebuild his armed forces,” Sir Shirreff said.
“And then when he’s done that, he will finish off Ukraine.
“Because he’s never going to give up on his aim of taking over the whole of Ukraine either.”
Next, Sir Shirreff warns, Putin will move into Moldova, Georgia and Romania by interfering in their elections and putting one of his puppets in power.
Then he’ll set his sights on the Baltics.
The former military chief warns: “I think it’s highly likely that when he looks at Nato, he’ll think it’s a busted flush because of what Trump has done, and then he’ll think – I’ll have a go on the Baltics.
“And then we’re at war with Russia because we’ve got 1,000 soldiers in Estonia, and so do the French, Germans, Canadians in the Baltics.”
Sir Shirreff paints a terrifying picture of what a Russian attack against the Baltics would look like.
He said: “Well when Russia attacks, an attack looks like what we’ve seen in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
“It looks like the deportation of children, rape of women and the massacre of civilians.
“That’s what happens when Russia attacks. First will be the missiles, then the works.”
Mariupol in Ukraine’s east has been reduced to rubble after ruthless Russian forces attacked the city with tanks, mortars, missiles and aircraft.
Romanian army tanks fire during the ‘Exercise Steadfast Dart 2025’ at the Smardan Training Area, in Smardan, south-eastern Romania[/caption]
Ukrainian emergency employees and volunteers carry an injured pregnant woman from the damaged by shelling maternity hospital in Mariupol[/caption]
Dead bodies are put into a mass grave on the outskirts of Mariupol[/caption]
Burning buildings in northeastern Mariupol[/caption]
Buildings that were damaged in the southern port city of Mariupol in 2022[/caption]
More than 450,000 civilians were left stranded in Mariupol by March 2022, with the brutal fighting killing thousands of men, women and children and destroying critical infrastructure.
After months of fighting bravely, Ukrainian forces defending the Azovstal steel plant began surrendering and Mariupol was left to the Russians – and remains under their tyranny.
The city, once a vibrant hub, has suffered some of the worst destruction in the war, with the destroyed buildings now lining the streets.
And now Sir Shirreff has warned the Baltic states would become another Mariupol if Putin is allowed to unleash hell on Europe.
Ben Hodges, the former commander of the US Army Europe, has warned that Putin could launch missile strikes against Nato countries to take out transport infrastructure.
That’s because Putin knows that the military alliance depends on rapid reinforcement to defend the territory against an attack.
He told the Sun: “And that means airports and seaports along Nato’s eastern flank from Finland all the way down through Poland and Romania, which are critical for rapid reinforcement, would be targeted with either kinetic strikes or cyber attacks.”
Sir Shirreff, who agrees with Hodges’ assessment, said the only way Putin can be stopped is if Europe bolsters its defences and creates an effective deterrence.
He explained: “The way to avoid and prevent this from happening is through mobilising and preparing for the worst case scenario and making it 100 per cent clear to Putin that if he tries anything on in the Baltic states, he will get a bloody nose.
“But you can’t do that until you’ve done the build-up.”
He said without the US military being a sure part of Nato it will “immediately be really difficult” because America has provided the bulk of the funding.
And America’s capabilities – including long-range missiles, air defence, intelligence surveillance reconnaissance systems as well as their mass in tanks and troops – would be sorely missed.
“But taken together, Europe is collectively 10 times bigger than Russia’s economy,” Sir Shirreff said.
“Europe can do it. But it’ll take time, it’ll take effort, it’ll take leadership and it’ll take sacrifice.”
He said Europe must firstly give Ukraine the capabilities it needs to maintain its defence against the meatgrinder Russian forces.
And now is more important than ever to do so after Trump suspended US weapons and military support to Ukraine after his public spat with Zelensky.
Second, Europe must fill the gap that could be left behind if Trump pulls out of Nato and create a united strategy in streamlining the defence industries, Sir Sherriff said.
That means mobilising troops, potentially conscripting soldiers to build up our armed forces – like we did at the start of the Second World War to face the Nazis.
He warned: “For all of our security and safety, it’s got to work.
“And if Europe is fractured, and if Europe doesn’t step up to the mark, then I really fear for our future.”
ESTONIA, Lithuania and Latvia have all condemned Putin’s grinding war in Ukraine.
These major Russian-speaking cities in each country are of historical importance when thinking about the Russian empire Putin follows on from.
Geographically they also all provide important elements, like coastal locations, sea ports, industrial centres or key borders.
NARVA – ESTONIA
Narva – which sits on the border between Russia and Estonia – was first occupied by Russia between 1558 and 1581, and then again in 1704.
97 per cent of the almost 60,000 residents there speak Russian.
It borders a river between the two countries – not far from Narva Bay.
On the edge of Nato’s eastern flank by the Baltic Sea, Narva is Estonia’s third biggest city.
There is a red line painted on the point where Narva crosses into Russia – on a bridge over the river.
Estonian border police told the BBC that thousands of Ukrainians have escaped war zones and fled into Estonia through this border crossing.
Narva has welcomed Ukrainian refugees during Putin’s war, the BBC reports.
KLAIPEDA – LITHUANIA
Lithunia downgraded its diplomatic relations with Russia after Putin invaded Ukraine.
It closed its Russian consulate in Klaipeda, which is bordered by Latvia, Belarus and Poland on the Baltic Sea coast.
The third largest city in Lithuania, Klaipeda is a major seaport.
It has the highest number of native Russian speakers among Lithuanian cities.
Under the USSR, Russia turned Klaipeda into a valuable marine base.
DAUGAVPILS – LATVIA
This Latvian city, in the south, is bordered closely by Belarus and Lithuania.
It is the second largest city in the country and well populated.
It is also only 75 miles from the Latvian border with Russia.
Daugavpils is historically a major railway and industrial point – and was part of the Russian Empire in the late 1700s.
It has an overwhelmingly Russian speaking population.
Latvia has strongly condemned Putin’s war in Ukraine, and has been added to a list of all EU countries dubbed “unfriendly” by Putin.
Zelensky and Trump had a showdown at the White House[/caption]
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Russia has launched a significant missile and drone attack on Ukraine, targeting critical energy and gas infrastructure across the country.This assault comes shortly after the United States announced it would suspend military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. The attack involved 67 missiles and 194 drones, with Ukraine managing to intercept or disable a majority of the drones but only
U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated his stance that the United States will not defend NATO members if they fail to meet the alliance’s defence spending targets.Trump stressed that it is "common sense" not to defend countries that do not contribute adequately to their own defence budgets. He has long criticized NATO, arguing that the U.S. bears too much of the financial burden for the