US general warns British army ‘no longer seen as a high-profile force’ and ‘unable to protect Britain and our allies’

Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has reportedly been told by a senior US general that the British Army is no longer considered a high-profile military force.

Decades of austerity measures would have led to a decline in war capability, which would have to be reversed faster than planned in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The bottom line…this is an entire service that the UK and our allies will not be able to protect for a decade,” a defense source said, reports Sky News.

Rishi Sunak also risks failing in his role as “wartime prime minister” unless the situation radically improves, the source said.

Decades of budget cuts have reportedly reduced the military’s combat capability. It will take five to ten years to build up a force of 25,000 soldiers, supported by tanks, artillery and helicopters.

One source recommended increasing the UK defense budget by £3 billion a year without further reducing the size of the army

To this end, they proposed increasing the defense budget by at least £3 billion a year without further reducing the size of the military, while relaxing peacetime procurement rules to allow rapid arms purchases.

The source explained: “We have a wartime prime minister and a wartime chancellor,” a source said.

“History will look back on the decisions they make over the coming weeks as fundamental to whether this government really believes that its primary purpose is to defend the Empire, or if it is just a verbally proven slogan.”

It was reported earlier today that Ukraine needs new weapons and faster supplies to deal with a “very difficult” situation of continued attacks by Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk region.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video speech: “The situation is very difficult. Bakhmut, Vuhledar and other sectors in the Donetsk region, there are constant Russian attacks. There are constant attempts to break our defenses.

Russia wants the war to continue and exhaust our troops. So we must make time our weapon. We need to speed up events, speed up deliveries and open up new weapons options for Ukraine.”

Earlier on Sunday, the general staff of Ukraine’s army said its forces had repelled an attack near Blahodatne in the eastern part of Donetsk region, while Russia’s private military group Wagner said it had taken control of the village.

A later military statement made no mention of Blahodatne.

Zelenskyy made his latest call for more arms supplies just days after Germany and the United States topped a list of countries willing to provide modern tanks.

“The bottom line … this is an entire service that cannot protect the UK and our allies for a decade,” a defense source is quoted as saying

President Zelenskyy said yesterday that Ukraine needs US-made ATACMS missiles with a range of about 300 km. Washington has so far refused to provide it. A presidential aide said talks were underway to provide long-range missiles, and a spokesman for Ukraine’s air force spoke of talks about aircraft supplies.

In his closing remarks, President Zelenskyy said that Ukraine’s commanders are determined to ensure that “our pressure exceeds the offensive capabilities of the occupiers,” and that means “retaining defensive support from our partners.”

“The enemy disregards their personnel and maintains the intensity of their attacks despite the extent of their losses,” he said.

“Dealing with this requires extraordinary resilience and a full awareness of our soldiers that they are defending the whole of Ukraine by defending the Donetsk region.”