Vladimir Putin has warned the West he is prepared to meet Nato on the battlefield over Ukraine.
During his chilling Victory Day speech in Moscow earlier this month, Russia‘s leader ominously declared his forces “always ready”.
And – hinting at an imminent conflict that could trigger World War 3 – he remarked: “Today on Victory Day we are conscious of that even more acutely. Our strategic forces are always combat-ready.”
This comes as Russia has started employing deadly new tactics, such as using killer drones to hunt down soldiers – and hypersonic missiles, which have caused wide-ranging destruction, to flatten entire apartment blocks in Ukraine.
Another key strategy centres on heavy artillery attacks followed by swift ground force mobilisation to seize territory
In light of escalating tensions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov further intensified the grim rhetoric this week by issuing a warning to Western leaders. He announced that Russia is prepared to confront NATO if it were to deploy troops in Ukraine.
Regardless of Russia‘s threats, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) – boasting 32 member countries with a combined military budget exceeding $1 trillion (£789 billion) – stands formidable. With an arsenal comprising more than three million active personnel, three million reserve personnel and upwards of 700,000 troops in paramilitary forces, reports the Mirror.
Furthermore, NATO countries possess an impressive collection of over 14,000 tanks, multiple tens of thousands of combat vehicles, 21,000 military aircraft and nearly 2,000 naval vessels.
The UK, US, and France, all nuclear-armed nations, are key NATO allies. In stark contrast, Russia‘s military might before the Ukraine conflict consisted of a mere 350,000 active soldiers, with around one million personnel on active duty and approximately two million in reserve.
Military expert Dr. Jack Watling from the Royal United Services Institute has recently highlighted that Russia has ramped up its troop numbers actively engaged in the Ukraine conflict to 510,000. His report states: “This means that Russia has established significant numerical superiority over the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU).”
Should a confrontation with NATO arise, it is speculated that Russia would call upon its vast reserves. The strategy for NATO’s response remains uncertain, and not all members may commit troops to combat in Ukraine unless a NATO nation is directly targeted by Putin.
Earlier in the year, French President Emmanuel Macron did not dismiss the idea of Western forces eventually joining the fray in Ukraine. However, several NATO countries including the US, Germany, Britain, Spain, Poland, and the Czech Republic have distanced themselves from Macron’s remarks, opting instead to provide ongoing financial and material support to Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has made his stance clear: “There will be no ground troops, no soldiers on Ukrainian soil sent by European countries or NATO states.”
Retired US Army Colonel Alexander Crowther made a stark comparison in an interview with Radio Free Europe in March, highlighting the dire situation of Ukrainian forces. He remarked: “Ukrainians are running out of soldiers, just like we did in 1944, when in Europe, we took cooks and handed them rifles and said, ‘You are now an infantryman.’ And so Ukraine is at the point where they’re having to do that.”
He further elaborated on the potential benefits of Western involvement, stating: “Maintenance, logistics, technical [stuff], like running air-defence systems – for every (Western) soldier or civilian that is sent there, that’s a Ukrainian who can get shipped to the front. I think that sending Western troops to Ukraine is a subset of supporting Ukraine vigorously… I could name half a dozen countries right now that would be willing to send people to Ukraine.”
Amidst these discussions, a report has raised alarms about the possibility of Europe facing an “ecological catastrophe” should Putin’s forces overpower the Ukrainian defence. Experts warn that such a scenario could also inspire similar conflicts around the globe.
The global think tank Globsec has issued a warning that a “sudden drop” in Western aid to Ukraine could pave the way for a Russian triumph. According to the organisation, this would result in Russia possessing an “actual nuclear threat” following its exit from nuclear arms control treaties.
The nuclear concerns continue to escalate as the impact of the Ukraine conflict radiates throughout Europe. The Polish President, Andrzej Duda, has expressed his readiness to launch nuclear missiles if required, which could potentially lead to radioactive “contamination”.