The head of Britain's Armed Forces has warned against submitting to Vladimir Putin's demands for peace ahead of US President Donald Trump's crucial talks in Alaska.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin told Nato allies to be “assertive in every domain – nuclear, land, sea, air, cyber and space – as well as in the diplomatic and economic arenas”.
Sir Tony's warnings come ahead of the critical negotiations between Mr Trump and the Russian leader in Alaska on Friday.
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Sir Tony's warnings come ahead of the critical negotiations between Mr Trump and the Russian leader in Alaska
| PAThe Admiral, who has served as the head of Britain's Armed Forces since 2021, wrote for The Telegraph: "Putin doesn’t want a war with Nato because he would lose.
"So we should not be cowed by his rhetoric or his campaign of sabotage, outrageous as it may be.
“The one weapon that is most needed in our arsenal is confidence. Despite the global instability, Britain is secure at home.
"Nato is strong. Russia is weak. It is not complacent to point this out.”
Mr Trump said that he would know 'in the first two minutes exactly whether or not a deal can be made'
| GETTYAhead of Friday's meeting, Mr Trump assured that the Russian leader would not "mess around with me" and warned that if Putin failed to offer worthwhile solutions to bring the conflict to an end, he would impose greater sanctions.
Mr Trump said: “I want to set the table for the next meeting. I’d like to see it happen very quickly.
"If it’s a bad meeting, it will end very quickly, and if it’s a good meeting, we will end up having peace in the very near future.”
The American leader said that he would know “in the first two minutes exactly whether or not a deal can be made".
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Sir Tony said: “We should draw reassurance from our place in Nato, recognising we are the very beneficiaries of the same security guarantees President Zelensky so desperately seeks, and then use that assuredness to back Ukraine to the hilt.
"Russia seized less than 0.4 per cent of Ukraine’s territory in the first six months of this year even as the toll of Russian dead and wounded passed one million.”
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Defence Minister Andrei Belousov have arrived in the US ahead of the critical meeting.
Belousov praised the Trump administration's "energetic and sincere efforts to end the fighting".
Belousov praised the Trump administration's 'energetic and sincere efforts to end the fighting'
|GETTY
Sir Tony's warning comes after Mr Zelenksy, who has been excluded from the first meeting, spoke with Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street.
After the pair met, the Ukrainian leader said on a social media post: “We discussed in considerable detail the security guarantees that can make peace truly durable if the United States succeeds in pressing Russia to stop the killings and engage in genuine, substantive diplomacy.”
However, Trump teased that the Alaska meeting is "setting the table" for a second round of talks involving Mr Zelensky.
It is believed that such a meeting would take place in a neutral European country.