West must ‘prepare for war with Russia’ warns ex-Nato chief as Putin unleashes cruise missiles from Black Sea submarine

THE West must prepare for a “worst case” war with Russia after Vladimir Putin’s growing threats to attack, a former Nato chief warned today.

It comes as a propaganda video showed a Russian sub launching a volley of cruise missiles from underwater in a fresh blitz on Ukraine.

The footage shows a series of Kalibr long-range rockets emerging from the Black Sea and streaking into the sky.

It is the first time Russia has reported using its submarine fleet to attack Ukraine.

Just four days ago “leaked” pictures showed Kalibr missiles being loaded into a sub in Crimean port Sevastopol.

“The crew of a diesel-electric submarine of the Black Sea Fleet launched a salvo of Kalibr cruise missiles at the military infrastructure of the Ukrainian armed forces from the Black Sea”, Russia’s defence ministry said today.

It claimed the rockets destroyed three electricity substations at Ukrainian railway junctions in Fastiv, Krasnosilka and Polonne.

Russia is said to have switched to firing from submarines at a safe distance after its Black Sea flagship the Moskva was sunk in a humiliating blow to Putin.

The Kalibr rocket can reportedly carry conventional or nuclear warheads and strike targets 750 miles away.

Meanwhile residential blocks in the capital Kyiv were hit by yet more rocket blitzes yesterday and today – killing a journalist and injuring a number of civilians.

One strike came during a visit by UN Secretary-General António Guterres to areas around Kyiv that were pillaged by Russian forces before the retreat.

“The war is evil,” he said while standing beside destroyed blocks of flats in the smashed commuter town of Borodyanka.

Russia was forced to abandon its shambolic assault on Kyiv after heavy losses.

Instead of pursuing a peace deal, the Kremlin has stepped up threats to Western nations supplying military hardware to Ukraine.

Putin himself darkly warned he could use nuclear weapons against the UK and European allies in a speech earlier this week.

Today Russian state TV broadcast a chilling map claiming to show how fast a Sarmat ICBM could strike from the Kaliningrad enclave in the Baltic.

It gleefully warns Berlin can be nuked in 106 seconds, Paris in 200 seconds and London in 202 seconds.

Last night Britain’s defence secretary Ben Wallace warned Putin could declare a new world war in days.

He said he fears the Russian tyrant might use traditional Victory Day celebrations on May 9, which commemorate the end of World War Two, for a mass mobilisation of troops.

Those fears were echoed today by Richard Shirreff, a former Nato deputy strategic commander for Europe.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today program the Kremlin was likely to respond aggressively but assisting Ukraine was still the “right approach”.

He said: “The worst case is war with Russia.

“By gearing itself up for the worst case, it is most likely to deter Putin because ultimately Putin respects strength.”

‘Cancerous growth’

Ukraine’s military claims Russia has so far lost 22,000 troops in the unwinnable conflict, which has now entered its tenth week.

Russia switched its focus from occupying the whole country to an attempt to seized the eastern Donbas region and the southern corridor near Crimea.

But Ukraine is continuing to put up fierce resistance, bouyed by its amazing success so far in repelling the much larger invasion force.

Last night Mr Wallace told LBC radio: “Putin, having failed in nearly all objectives, may seek to consolidate what he’s got . . . and just be a sort of cancerous growth within the country.

“We have to help Ukrainians effectively get the limpet off the rock and keep the momentum pushing them back.”

He vowed Britain would continue sending aid including anti-tank and anti-air missiles and plans to send Stormer armoured vehicles.

And he added he wasn’t “rattled” by the tyrant’s threats.

He said: “Because we have strong Armed Forces and a nuclear deterrent and we’re part of a Nato partnership of 30 nations who outgun him, outnumber him and have potentially all the capabilities at our disposal.

“I don’t fear him. I think we should be very grateful in this country that we have a nuclear deterrent, I think that is a really important part of his calculations.

“I’m very grateful that somewhere under the sea, some amazing men and women are deep underwater, hiding, waiting, in case Britain needs to be protected. That’s important.”