Vladimir Putin will be ‘vengeful’ if he loses war in Ukraine, outgoing RAF chief warns

Russia poses a “direct threat” to Britain and will be “vengeful” if it loses the war in Ukraine, the outgoing RAF chief has warned.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, 55, said the Russian military was a threat to Britain and Moscow’s aggression would only worsen if Vladimir Putin was ousted.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the West for creating “serious obstacles” in Ukraine and the Kremlin confirmed that it had transferred tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus.

Sir Mike said Russia would be “damaged,” “vindictive” and “brutal” if it attacked Britain through “air strikes, missile strikes and underground attacks” once Ukraine restored its borders.

His comments are the first public admission by a Western military leader of the risk a humiliated Russia could pose to NATO countries after the end of the war in Ukraine.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston (pictured), 55, said the Russian military was a threat to Britain and Moscow’s aggression would only get worse if Vladimir Putin was ousted

Sir Mike said Russia will be “damaged”, “vindictive” and “brutal” if there are any means of attacking Britain through “air strikes, missile strikes and underground attacks” once Ukraine restores its borders

Sir Mike told the Daily Telegraph: “When the Ukraine conflict is over and Ukraine has restored its borders, as it needs to be, we will have a damaged, vengeful and brutal Russia, whose means of harming us, through air strikes, rocket attacks and underground attacks are.” Attack.

“There is a whole structure and hierarchy behind Putin. So even if Putin were to disappear from the scene, there would be countless others who could replace him and who could be just as brutal and vicious towards their own people and neighboring states.”

He added that Russia will continue to pose a “permanent threat” to Britain and that the Kremlin is ready to wage a “brutal” war in the name of Russian historical revisionism.

Sir Mike’s warning comes after Russian missiles struck a medical clinic in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, killing at least two people, and after Russia blamed Kiev for dozens of attacks on the southern Belgorod region.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed the Ukraine conflict with China’s special envoy Li Hui, blaming Ukraine and Western countries for creating “serious obstacles” to resuming peace talks.

In Belgorod, in southern Russia, the governor said the Ukrainian military was responsible for dozens of artillery, mortar and drone strikes across the region but reported no casualties.

Russian missiles struck a medical clinic (pictured) in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday, killing at least two people, while Russia blamed Kiev for dozens of attacks on the southern Belgorod region

Pictured: The destroyed building of a medical facility, scene of a rocket attack, in the city of Dnipro

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy released a video showing smoke billowing from roofless buildings and blown windows after authorities said 30 people were injured, including two boys aged three and six.

Regional military administration chief Sergiy Lysak said Russia attacked a residential area with a medical and veterinary clinic and high-rise blocks.

Zelenskyy said that Russian terrorists’ attacks on civilian medical facilities “once again reaffirm their status as fighters against everything humane and honest.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham, on his third visit to Ukraine, condemned the attack as a war crime.

“Today there was a hospital bomb. Just over 500 medical facilities were attacked by the Russians. “While I was here, a war crime was committed, just one of many war crimes,” he said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its attacks on Ukraine had targeted arms depots and all assigned targets had been hit.

Ukrainian journalists released video footage of rescuers helping people with blood on their faces escape from the clinic through corridors full of rubble.

The attack came after Russian forces attacked Dnipro earlier this week in a night attack using 16 missiles and 20 attack drones.

The industrial site, which had almost a million inhabitants before the war, is around 120 kilometers from today’s front line.

On Wednesday, Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, said Vladimir Putin had led Russia to utter failure with his invasion of Ukraine.

Far from demilitarizing Ukraine — Russia’s top war target — Putin’s botched strategy has resulted in Kiev building “one of the strongest armies in the world” through massive Western supplies, Yevgeny Prigozhin said.

The Wagner boss was once considered a close ally and confidante of the Russian tyrant and was dubbed Putin’s “cook”. But in the latest of his increasingly frequent outbursts, Prigozhin delivered a scathing criticism of his war strategy.

He then warned of an impending “revolution” in Russia unless the Kremlin leadership makes changes.

In a stunning attack on military leaders, he said Russia would reintroduce the death penalty and that the culprits – he named Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Defense Staff Valery Gerasimov as responsible for the war crisis – would be “hanged in Red Square”.

Prigozhin blamed both Shoigu and Gerasimov for losing more men at Bakhmut than in the entire ten-year Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989, which eventually led to the collapse of the USSR.

“With the denazification of Ukraine that we have announced, we have turned Ukraine into a nation known to everyone around the world,” he said, ridiculing Putin’s distorted intent to go to war.

“They are like the Greeks at their peak or the Romans.”

He told interviewer Konstantin Dolgov, a prominent war blogger: “We have legitimized Ukraine, it has become a country that everyone knows.”

“As for demilitarization…” [this is] indeed a painful subject.

“So if they started with 500 tanks, now it’s 5,000.” If there were 20,000 men who could fight, now it’s 400,000. So how exactly did we demilitarize it?

Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin warned of an impending “revolution” unless the Kremlin leadership makes changes

Prigozhin was once considered a close ally and confidant of Vladimir Putin, but in his most recent outburst, he delivered a scathing criticism of the war strategy

‘But on the contrary! We’ve militarized it to the brim.

“I think the Ukrainians are one of the strongest armies in the world today.” They have a high level of organization, training and military intelligence.

“They have different ammunition, and moreover, they can switch between any system with equal success – Soviet, Nato, anything.” They take their losses philosophically.

“Everything they do is to achieve the highest goal, just like we did during the Great Patriotic War.” [Second World War].’