The whole of the UK – not just its armed forces – needs to step up to deter the threat posed by Russia of a wider war in Europe, Britain’s military chief will say.
In the kind of nation-wide call to action that has not been heard since the height of the Cold War, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton will use a speech in London on Monday evening to urge the British public to make defence and resilience “a higher priority”.
He will say Russia’s war in Ukraine shows that Vladimir Putin’s willingness to target his neighbours “threatens the whole of NATO, including the UK. The Russian leadership has made clear that it wishes to challenge, limit, divide and ultimately destroy NATO”.
Yet there was nothing in excerpts of the speech – released in advance by the Ministry of Defence – that pointed to any push by Sir Keir Starmer’s government to increase defence spending faster than planned, despite the flashing warning signs and concerns among senior military officers that the budget is currently set to grow too slowly.
In a further articulation of the threat, Blaise Metreweli, the new head of MI6, will use a separate speech on Monday to warn that the “front line is everywhere” in a new “age of uncertainty”.
“The export of chaos is a feature not a bug in the Russian approach to international engagement,” she will say, in her first public comments since becoming the first female chief of the Secret Intelligence Service in October.
“We should be ready for this to continue until Putin is forced to change his calculus.”
Read more:
Head of MI6: ‘Never seen the world in a more dangerous state’
NATO chief calls for 400% increase in air and missile defence
Defence and security chiefs across the NATO alliance are increasingly sounding the alarm about the potential for Russia’s war in Ukraine to ignite a much wider conflict.
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NATO ‘must prepare for scale of war our grandparents faced’, warns chief Mark Rutte
Mark Rutte, the head of NATO, last week said Europe must ready itself for a confrontation with Russia on the kind of scale “our grandparents and great-grandparents endured” – a reference to the First and Second World Wars.
At the same time, Al Carns, the UK’s armed forces minister, said Britain is “rapidly developing” plans to ready the entire country for the possible outbreak of war.
Sky News revealed last year that the UK had no national plan for the defence of the country or the mobilisation of its people.
By contrast, a detailed blueprint for the transition from a state of peace to one of war existed throughout the Cold War, setting out not just what the armed forces, emergency services and local governments had to do in the event of conflict, but also wider society, including people working in industry, schools and public transport.
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‘New era’ of threats from Russia, China and Iran
However, this Government War Book was quietly shelved after the Soviet Union collapsed and successive governments took a so-called “peace dividend”, shifting investment out of defence and into other priorities such as health and welfare.
Sky News and Tortoise have documented the hollowing out of the UK’s armed forces and wider national resilience in a podcast series called The Wargame.
The expected comments by Air Chief Marshal Knighton in an annual lecture at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) appear to signal an attempt by the government to put the country back on more of a war footing in the face of rising threats.
But military insiders have warned that a timeline set out by the government of 10 years to boost defence spending to 3.5% of GDP from 2.3% is far too slow.
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The chief of the defence staff will say: “The situation is more dangerous than I have known during my career and the response requires more than simply strengthening our armed forces. A new era for defence doesn’t just mean our military and government stepping up – as we are – it means our whole nation stepping up.”
He will nod to the planned uplift in spending, noting “the price of peace is increasing”.
He is set to say: “The war in Ukraine shows that Putin’s willingness to target neighbouring states, including their civilian populations, potentially with such novel and destructive weapons, threatens the whole of NATO, including the UK.”
This is a threat that wider society needs to prepare for as well as the military.
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Military analyst Sean Bell looks at the threat Russia poses
“Our armed forces always need to be ready to fight and win – that’s why readiness is such a priority,” Air Chief Marshal Knighton will say.
“But deterrence is also about our resilience to these threats, it’s about how we harness all our national power, from universities, to industry, the rail network to the NHS. It’s about our defence and resilience being a higher national priority for all of us. An ‘all-in’ mentality.”
It is a highly unusual intervention that has echoes of the Cold War when the UK last involved all of society in a programme of national defence and resilience against the threat of World War Three and potential nuclear Armageddon posed by the then Soviet Union.
“We are heading into uncertainty, and that uncertainty is becoming more profound, both as our adversaries become more capable and unpredictable, and as unprecedented technology change manifests itself,” Air Chief Marshal Knighton will say.
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Greg Wyshynski
NEWARK, N.J. — Zeev Buium was the Minnesota Wild‘s defenseman of the future until they made him the centerpiece of the Quinn Hughes trade last Friday, shipping the 20-year-old in a package to the Vancouver Canucks for their star captain.
Buium said he doesn’t feel he was misled about his status with the Wild before the trade.
“I don’t think anything they told me was a lie. I really don’t,” Buium said Sunday after the Canucks’ 2-1 road victory over the New Jersey Devils. “[Wild GM] Bill Guerin is an unbelievable person. He’s such a smart guy. He wants to try and win now, and that’s a move he thought was best for the team. At the end of the day, you have to do what’s best for the team.”
Buium was traded to Vancouver along with center Marco Rossi, winger Liam Ohgren and a 2026 first-round pick for Hughes, the 26-year-old Norris Trophy winner who is considered one of the best defensemen in hockey. Hughes had 432 points in 459 games heading into Sunday’s action and was the leading scorer on Vancouver (23 points in 26 games) before Friday’s blockbuster trade.
Buium had two points in his debut with the Canucks, both on the power play. He earned an assist on Jake DeBrusk‘s opening goal and then was credited with his fourth goal of the season when his pass deflected off the stick of Devils defenseman Brenden Dillon.
He was drafted 12th overall in 2024 by the Wild and was an offensive dynamo with the University of Denver for two seasons (98 points in 83 games). He had 14 points in 31 games as a rookie this season before the trade.
Guerin called Buium a “special kid and a special human,” but he indicated that the Wild’s bid for Hughes was only successful because Buium was a part of it.
“I love that kid, but you have to give something to get something,” Guerin said.
Buium didn’t take the trade personally, but he said he’ll use it as motivation.
“I don’t think it’s [Guerin] saying, ‘You’re not good enough’ or ‘We don’t believe in you.’ But I think he sees me needing to develop a little bit more,” Buium said. “I think it works out for both teams. I’m going to do my best to show the Canucks that they made a good trade. Hopefully, I can turn into a player like that.”
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