'British troops must prepare to fight in Europe once again,’ says UK's new Army chief

British troops must prepare “to fight in Europe once again” as the battle in Ukraine rages on and intensifies, General Sir Patrick Sanders who succeeded General Sir Mark Carleton Smith said. “There is now a burning imperative to forge an Army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle,” Sir Patrick wrote to his charges, according British press. The new professional head of the British Army, said that his “singular duty” would be to “make our Army as lethal and effective as it can be.”

He wrote to UK’s Royal Army in a message: “We are the generation that must prepare the Army to fight in Europe once again. There is now a burning imperative to forge an Army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle.” 

Furthermore, General Sir Patrick Sanders stated, “I am the first Chief of the General Staff since 1941 to take command of the Army in the shadow of a land war in Europe involving a continental power. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine underlines our core purpose – to protect the UK by being ready to fight and win wars on land.” His remarks come as the United Kingdom plans to shrink its combat troops figures from 82,000 personnel to 72,500 by 2025. Despite the significant troop reduction, UK now believes that the war in Ukraine could most likely spill in the eastern flank of Europe. 

'We must be prepared for war to last for years': NATO Chief

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg had earlier told German newspaper Bild, “We must be prepared for (the war in Ukraine) to last for years.” “We must not weaken in our support of Ukraine, even if the costs are high – not only in terms of military support but also because of rising energy and food price,” he significantly added. “That is no comparison to the price that the Ukrainians have to pay every day. And if Putin learns from this war that he can simply carry on as he did after the 2008 war in Georgia and the occupation of Crimea in 2014, then we will pay a much higher price,” said Stoltenberg. NATO, said its chief, will continue to support Ukraine in its self-defence, but is not part of the conflict.

“We are helping the country, but we will not send NATO soldiers to Ukraine,” iterated Stoltenberg. The Alliance has bolstered the troop deployment to 40,000 in order to secure the territory of the alliance on land, at sea and in the air amid Russia’s aggression. “We need to steel ourselves for a long war,” UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson meanwhile said after he returned from a trip to Ukraine. “I am afraid that we need to steel ourselves for a long war, as Putin resorts to a campaign of attrition, trying to grind down Ukraine by sheer brutality,” Johnson told The Times.

Image: AP