‘We would fight tonight!’ UK army chief issues Putin warning after Russia threatens West

A top UK military chief has said the British Army would be ready to fight “tonight” after threats from Putin.

Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British defence staff made this statement after MPs asked him how many British brigades could get to NATO’s eastern front in the event of an escalation with Russia.

Magowan responded: “If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight.”

Fears started to grow after the Russian president escalated tensions with the West, saying Russia had launched a new intermediate-range missile in a strike on Ukraine.

He also sent a warning to Ukraine’s western allies in a national television address, saying: “The targets for destruction during further tests of our newest missile systems will be determined by us based on the threats to the security of the Russian Federation. We consider ourselves entitled to use our weapons against military facilities of those countries that allow their weapons to be used against our facilities.”

Putin further threatened: “And in the event of an escalation of aggressive actions, we will respond just as decisively and in kind. I recommend that the ruling elites of those countries that are hatching plans to use their military contingents against Russia seriously think about this.”

The warnings came in response to the US authorising Ukraine to use US-supplied long range missiles to strike targets inside Russia, the first of which were fired on Tuesday.

More to follow…