The West risks a third world war if it fails to defeat tyrannical forces in the race for new weapons, the former commander of Ukraine’s armed forces has warned.
General Valery Zaluzhny, who this month became kyiv’s ambassador to Britain, told a conference in London that “evil is here and it has come to kill” and that a conflict on the scale of the First and Second World Wars was possible.
“Time is no longer on our side,” he warned, adding that Britain and its allies needed to “wake up” and urgently prioritise the development of new military technology.
Zaluzhny added that Western governments must prepare their populations for the possibility of war and that people must be willing to make sacrifices.
“Society must accept temporarily giving up a number of freedoms for the sake of survival,” he said. “Modern wars, unfortunately, are total wars.”
His comments come after it was revealed yesterday that the UK has for the first time tested a laser beam from a military vehicle, a weapon capable of destroying targets at the speed of light from more than a mile away.
General Valery Zaluzhny, who this month became kyiv’s ambassador to Britain, told a conference in London that “evil is here and it has come to kill.”
In this image taken from a video released by the Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, a Russian tank fires towards a Ukrainian position at an undisclosed location.
The Ministry of Defence has called the weapon “innovative” and could serve as a much more affordable way of shooting drones out of the sky than missiles or bullets.
Air defense is a major concern for Ukraine as it continues to fight off Russian aggressors, with President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly emphasizing the need for additional air defense systems to comprehensively protect his country’s airspace.
The rapid development of drone warfare and electronic countermeasures has had a dramatic impact on the success of Ukraine and Russia in the war, which has now lasted more than two years.
Zaluzhny was commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces when Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade in 2022 before being ousted in February.
His speech at the Royal United Services Institute conference was his first since taking up a new role as Ukraine’s ambassador to London this month.
The general said that only by combining Ukraine’s military experience with Western resources and research could progress be made.
He had previously predicted that only by winning a technological arms race could each side achieve a breakthrough in the war.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi (pictured today), has warned that Britain must prepare for “all-out war” against Russia and its allies.
British troops in Foxhound vehicles arrive after crossing the Vistula River as part of NATO’s Dragon 24 military exercise in March
Without rapid development, he said, Ukraine risks losing the war, with the West on the brink of a conflict on the scale of World Wars I and II, in which tens of millions of people died.
Is humanity prepared to calmly accept the next war, in terms of the magnitude of suffering? This time, World War III?
“Free and democratic countries and their governments must wake up and think about how to protect their citizens and their countries,” he said. “We are ready to share all our knowledge.”
He said that “perhaps the most difficult and most important component is the preparation of society,” adding: “If you want peace, prepare for war.”
At the same conference yesterday, Britain’s new defence secretary, John Healey, made the worrying admission that problems with the UK armed forces, hit by decades of cuts, are “much worse than we thought”.
He said “these are really serious times” with “increasingly global threats” and that the UK must be “prepared to fight back”..
He added that the nature of the military conflict is changing more rapidly than ever before and warned that “Russia is far from being a spent force.”
Mr Healey told the Land Warfare Conference that the situation in Ukraine was providing lessons for what the UK was facing.
He said only a “unified national response” to the threat from Putin and other foreign aggressors would be sufficient.
Speaking in London, Defence Secretary John Healey told the Land Warfare Conference that the situation in Ukraine was providing lessons for what the UK faced.
Ukrainian soldiers stand next to a tank in a rear position after attacking Russian positions in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, July 20.
Mr Healey told an audience of army officers and guests: “These are really serious times. I want to set in motion a new era for UK defence. We face rapidly increasing global threats.
‘And as Ukraine has shown us, the nature of ground warfare is changing faster than ever.
“Russia is far from being a spent force and if he (Vladimir Putin) wins, he will not stop. And this war is at a critical moment. That is why we are increasing aid and delivering more ammunition.”
Mr Healey said the Government had committed to investing 2.5 per cent of GDP in the military, but gave no indication of when Labour would fulfil that commitment.
