Vladimir Putin will attack Nato country if he wins in Ukraine, former CIA chief claims

Speaking at the Policy Exchange think-tank in London, Petraeus said Putin's aim is to topple Ukraine and "install a puppet leader". He added: "Once that's done, you are going to see them focus on one of the Baltic states."

The former CIA director, who headed the agency between 2011 and 2012, specifically identified Lithuania as being most at risk from Russian aggression.

"Lithuania has featured prominently in his speeches and we should have listened a lot more," Petraeus warned.

The former general, who led tens of thousands of US, British and other nationality troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, described Putin's ultimate objective as controlling all of Ukraine.

He said Russia seeks to remove President Volodymyr Zelensky and replace him with a pro-Russian puppet leader.

Long before the war in Ukraine began in 2022, Putin had frequently insisted the country was part of Russia, claiming Ukrainians and Russians were "one people".

In 2020 he declared: "Kyiv is the mother of Russian cities. Ancient Rus' is our common source and we cannot live without each other."

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Petraeus also criticised President Donald Trump for repeatedly granting second chances to Putin and took aim at predecessor Joe Biden for failures to adequately arm Ukrainian forces.

He said: "What we've seen is three incidences where the US President has threatened that in two weeks we'll have to take a different approach."

"The US also temporised far too long over individual decisions such as M1 [Abrams] tanks. A blind man on a dark night could see it had to be the F-16 [a multi-role fighter aircraft]," he added.

Petraeus said the delayed weapons deliveries were "very unhelpful to the Ukrainians". He explained: "Each time they'd have to ask and wait, and then we'd say no, and then maybe, and then eventually they'd get it."

Lithuanian officials are already preparing for potential Russian aggression, having unveiled an evacuation plan for the capital Vilnius in the event of an invasion.

The national government has invested in updating border defences, particularly at the critical Suwałki Gap.

The strategic corridor has long been seen as one of the likeliest staging areas for a Russian attack on Lithuania.

Lithuanian Deputy Defence Minister Tomas Godliauskas described the fortifications as "critical to us from a security and defence perspective".