A chilling warning was made in Sanders’ first speech after he was appointed Chief of Staff of the British Army, which he took over earlier this month.
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“It is now urgent to create an army that will be able to fight alongside our allies and defeat Russia in battle,” Sanders said in his first address to the troops.
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“We are the generation that must prepare the army again for combat in Europe,” he said, adding that he was the first chief of staff since 1941 to take the reins in the shadow of a “ground war in Europe involving a continental power.”
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According to Sanders, the aggression of Russian forces in Ukraine underlined the purpose of the British army – “to protect the United Kingdom by being ready to fight and win ground wars,” quotes the general daily The Sun..
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The smallest army in 300 years
The 56-year-old military leader, who has previously commanded operations in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan, has promised to speed up plans to modernize the military and increase deployment abroad so that crises can respond quickly.
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However, the Mirror newspaper points out that it will be in charge of the smallest British army in the last 300 years. The current size of the so-called Regular Army is 73,000 soldiers. The conservative government of Boris Johnson did not fulfill its promise to keep the number at 82 thousand.
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The British prime minister returned from a visit to Ukraine on Saturday and warned the nation that “it is necessary to prepare for a long war.” He said that if Russia succeeded in gaining territory in Ukraine, “no nation will be safe anywhere” because “all dictators will have the courage to pursue their ambitions by force.”
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