Putin’s troops would DESTROY British Army in just a year of war, minister warns

The whole British Army would be destroyed in “six months to a year” if at war with Russia, a minister has warned.

Veterans minister Colonel Alistair Carns said it would be impossible for Britain to sustain losses like those of the Ukrainian army, who are losing about 1,500 soldiers a day.

Speaking at a conference on reserves, the colonel said: “In a war of scale — not a limited intervention but one similar to Ukraine — our army, for example on the current casualty rates, would be expended, as part of a broader multinational coalition, in six months to a year.”

He said the reserves were “critical” in a major conflict, adding that Russia is already on to its third army.

The British Army currently has about 72,000 troops, the smallest since the Napoleonic era, and defence secretary John Healy has warned it is predicted to dip below 70,000 next year.

However, Col Carns said the army did not necessarily need to get bigger, instead stressing the importance of generating mass.

“That doesn’t mean we need a bigger army, but it does mean you need to generate depth and mass rapidly in the event of a crisis.

“The reserves are critical, absolutely central, to that process. Without them, we cannot generate mass, we cannot meet the plethora of defence tasks.”

General Sir Jim Hockenhull, head of strategic command in the military, said there were more amputees in the Ukrainian military today than there were members of the British Army.

He said the military needed to “rethink” the reserve system because it was far too complicated.

“The stakes are clear: if we fail to act we risk falling further behind,” he said.

The US has previously warned the UK that the number of troops was too small.

The army is struggling to recruit new people, while troops are quitting because of low morale.

However, there are over 25,000 army reservists and thousands of veterans not in reserves but still subject to “reserve service liability.”

This means the defence secretary can recall former soldiers to join in action if they left service within 18 years and are under the age of 55.

However, recalling them could be hard because many details are likely to be out of date, a source said.