The UK has already committed to strengthening the defence of Estonia's border with Russia, with thousands of troops held at high readiness (Picture: MOD)

Army

British Army is ready to fight Russia if necessary, says senior military leader

The British Army is ready to fight Russia should the need arise, a senior Armed Forces officer has insisted.

Lieutenant General Sir Rob Magowan, the Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff, told the Commons Defence Committee: "If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight.

"I don't think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight then we would meet them in that fight."

Lt Gen Sir Rob, a former commandant general of the Royal Marines, was asked by the Commons Defence Committee how many brigades could reach Nato's eastern flank should there be any major escalation by Moscow.

Tensions are high at the moment in light of the events in Ukraine, Kyiv having been given permission to use US-supplied long-range Atacms missiles to strike targets inside Russia.

And although the Government has neither confirmed nor denied it, UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles are also thought to have been used on Russian soil.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has responded by launching a hypersonic ballistic missile at Ukraine.

And communications cables in the Baltic Sea have also been severed, nominally by a Chinese merchant ship, but with defence anyalysts suspecting Moscow and/or Beijing are behind the sabotage.

British soldiers deployed to Estonia have included members of the Royal Gibraltar Regiment (Picture: @RoyalGIBRegt X)

The UK is committed to strengthening the defence of Eastern Europe, particularly in Estonia, which borders Russia.

Thousands of troops from the Army's 4 Brigade are being held at high readiness – in addition to the 1,000 already currently deployed to the country.

How else could Nato bolster its eastern flank?

The alliance has a number of "strategic corridors" across the continent.

One such route – Corridor 8 – was recently used for the first time by the Royal Yorkshire Regiment deploying along it and into Kosovo.

Corridor 8 is designed to allow Nato to deploy forces quickly and connects the Adriatic and Black Seas while running through Albania, North Macedonia and Bulgaria.

1 R Yorks' deployment to Kosovo comes during a period of increased military cooperation among the UK and nations in the region.

Albania, for example, has been a member of Nato since 2009, having been a country that emerged out of the Second World War under the influence of the Soviet Union.