West is facing its 'most serious and dangerous challenge' since World War Two, ex-general warns

By Henry Moore

The West is facing its “most serious and dangerous challenge” since the Second World War, a former US military chief has said.

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Retired four-star general Jack Keane has warned the emergence of China and its growing bonds with Russia and North Korea poses an existential threat to Britain and its allies.

It comes as tensions with Russia reached boiling point this week after the UK and US gave Ukraine permission to fire long-range missiles into Putin’s territory.

General Keane, an ally of Donald Trump, said ending the war in Ukraine is at the top of the president-elect’s priority list.

“China, Russia and North Korea are working effectively together. What has happened is that they have perceived us, the US, to be weak and that we have lost the political will to confront them,” he told the Times.

“At the moment there are 10,000 North Korean troops who have joined the Russians,” Keane added.

“But do we have the beginnings of a pipeline of North Korean troops coming to support Russia, another country fighting alongside Russia to try and overthrow Ukraine? This is the biggest escalation of the war.”

General Keane told the publication he believes President-elect Trump will be able to end the war come his inauguration in January.

However, the retired general added Putin is unlikely to negotiate with the United States to end his invasion.

“Putin is accelerating things. I’m in favour of negotiating with Putin. But I don’t think he wants to negotiate a deal. He would rather take the whole country,” he said.

On whether Trump can keep his pledge to end the war on his first day in office, Keane said: “I think there’s a difference between what has been said in the campaign and what is now being discussed among the people with the responsibility for dealing with the war.

“These people are all getting classified briefings and they know that what is needed is a favourable outcome for Ukraine, at a minimum, when negotiations begin.”

Putin threatens UK with new ballistic missile as Ukraine war escalates

Despite Trump’s goal of ending Russia’s war on Ukraine, Keane insisted the West is still facing its biggest threat since the end of WW2.

He said: “Our assessment was that the DoD (Department of Defence) challenges were more formidable than at any time in eight decades.

“In the last four years we haven’t increased our defence budget because of inflation. It has been flat under Biden. This was irresponsible and reckless.”

It comes as Vladimir Putin said Russia will ramp up production of the new “unstoppable” hypersonic ballistic missile it fired at Ukraine on Thursday.

Known as Oreshnik, the intermediate-range rocket cannot be intercepted by existing technology, the Russian president told a meeting with his ministry of defence, according to state media outlet RIA Novosti.

Only Russia has access to this “unstoppable” missile, he reportedly said.

The UK must "confront" the deployment of North Korean troops alongside Russia in Ukraine

Zelenskyy also urged the West to undertake a "serious response to Putin's intimidation" on Friday, explaining that the "Russian missile threat" can't be ignored.

"There is no countermeasure to such a missile, no means of intercepting it, in the world today. And I will emphasise once again that we will continue testing this newest system. It is necessary to establish serial production," Putin said.

The Kremlin has said it will begin mass producing the missiles following the US and UK’s decision to allow Kyiv to strike Russia with long-range Western weapons.

Putin’s forces hit the Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Thursday in an attack the Kremlin said was retaliation for the decision.

"Russia conducted combat tests of the 'Oreshnik' hypersonic missile system in response to the aggressive actions of Nato countries against Russia," Putin said in the video message on Thursday.

"In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons on 21 November of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine.

"In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things. In this case, with a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment."

In response, Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Putin is 'testing' the West’s support of Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said: "The world must respond. Right now, there is no strong reaction from the world.

"Putin is very sensitive to this. He is testing you, dear partners. It is clear who the sole culprit of this war is—who started it on February 24th and who continues to pour all resources into its continuation. He must be stopped.

"A lack of tough reactions to Russia’s actions sends a message that such behaviour is acceptable. This is what Putin is doing."