A Trump presidency could leave Europe ‘sitting ducks’ for Putin over his lack of support for NATO: Chilling warning as former US general says weakened alliance would prompt Russia to think ‘we can attack’

A Trump presidency could leave Europe as a sitting duck for Vladimir Putin and his armed forces due to his lack of support for NATO, a retired US general has warned.

Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of the US military in Europe, said that if Donald Trump is elected US president in November, it would weaken NATO and leave Europe vulnerable to a Russian attack.

Hodges said that if Putin believes NATO is becoming “divided” as a result of Trump’s presidency, the Russian warmonger might think “we can attack now.”

His comments came just days after it emerged that Trump, who won the Iowa Republican caucus on Monday, told European officials he would never help Europe if it were attacked and that “NATO is dead” while he was president .

Hodges said that if Trump were president, the chances that Putin would launch an invasion and trigger World War III would increase dramatically.

Speaking to MailOnline from his home in Frankfurt, Germany, Hodges said: ‘The likelihood of all-out war increases the more chaotic, divided and unprepared we are in the West.

‘A Trump presidency, where he has openly discussed the US withdrawal from NATO, would erode cohesion and trust within NATO. Russia would look at this and think, maybe their European allies could be hit now.”

A Ukrainian soldier attends an anti-sabotage exercise at the border with Belarus, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine

U.S. soldiers assigned to the 1st Battalion, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division participate in the distinguished visitors day as part of Griffin Shock 23, held in Bemowo Piskie, Poland, in May 2023

Hodges (pictured) said that if Putin believes NATO is becoming ‘divided’ as a result of Trump’s presidency, the Russian warmonger would think ‘we can attack now’

Hodges pointed out how Trump was quoted by a senior EU official as telling European Commission President Von der Leyen in 2020: “You have to understand that if Europe is attacked, we will never come to help and support you.”

Hodges added: “A lack of cohesion in the alliance would prompt Russia to think, OK, we can attack Europe now. We will be seen by Putin as sitting ducks.

“If we are divided, it would mean we are not prepared. We do not have enough forces in the regions that need them to respond effectively to an attack on NATO territory.”

Hodges is warning of what a Trump return to the White House in November would mean for Europe and NATO, after a senior official said the alliance’s forces were bracing for all-out war with Russia in the next two decades.

Admiral Rob Bauer, the chairman of NATO’s Military Committee, yesterday called on citizens and governments alike to prepare for cataclysmic conflict and the chilling prospect of conscription.

‘We must realize that it cannot be taken for granted that we will have peace. And that is why we (NATO forces) have these plans, that is why we are preparing for a conflict with Russia,” Bauer told reporters after a meeting of NATO defense chiefs in Brussels.

‘But the discussion is much broader. It is also the industrial base and also the people who need to understand that they have a role to play.”

Bauer added: ‘We need public and private actors to change their mindset from an era in which everything was plannable, predictable, controllable and focused on efficiency, to an era in which anything can happen at any time. An era in which we must expect the unexpected.’

Hodges said Bauer is right to issue such a warning, saying it is at the very least not “alarming.”

The former general said: ‘If you want to prevent war, you have to demonstrate that you are prepared for war.

‘Bauer reminds us what we did for forty years during the Cold War. For forty years we lived with the possibility that a nuclear war would break out that night. The culture and mentality was, ‘Be prepared to fight tonight.’

“People shouldn’t be alarmed by what Bauer says, they should say thank you for reminding us that what we enjoy now is neither guaranteed nor given.

‘We now have the power to change that. That is not inevitable.’

It comes as NATO plans to mobilize 90,000 troops in its biggest military maneuver since the Cold War, with the war games aimed at stopping Vladimir Putin from attacking a member state.

The alliance announced the exercise would begin next week, with months of drills aimed at showing the alliance can defend all of its territory up to the border with Russia.

Ukrainian soldiers dressed in Russian uniforms attend anti-sabotage exercises on the border with Belarus on Wednesday, amid the Russian attack on Ukraine, in the Chernihiv region, Ukraine

NATO plans to mobilize 90,000 troops in its biggest military maneuver since the Cold War in a bid to deter Vladimir Putin. Pictured: British soldiers take part in a major exercise as part of the EFP NATO operation at the Estonian army camp Tapa near Rakvere, on February 6, 2022

The exercises, dubbed ‘Steadfast Defender’, will be carried out until the end of May and will involve units from all 31 NATO member states plus candidate member Sweden, said NATO Supreme Commander Europe, US General Christopher Cavoli.

The war games are intended as a further show of strength for NATO and its commitment to defend all allied countries from attack.

“The Alliance will demonstrate its ability to strengthen the Euro-Atlantic area through a transatlantic force from North America,” Cavoli told reporters in Brussels after a two-day meeting of national defense chiefs.

Bauer said the scale of the exercise was a demonstration of the alliance’s new readiness.

“That’s a record number of troops that we can deploy and exercise within that size, across the alliance, across the ocean, from the US to Europe,” he said.

Last week it was announced that Britain would send 20,000 troops with the Royal Navy’s two new aircraft carriers, eight warships and the RAF’s F-35 lightning attack aircraft, which will practice flying in simulated conflict scenarios.

British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps announced the deployment on Monday.

The war games come after British ministers announced a new £2.5 billion aid package for Ukraine and the RAF’s joint US airstrikes on the Houthis in Yemen.

According to the German newspaper ImageGermany will send 12,000 soldiers, along with 3,000 vehicles and 30 aircraft.

Citing the German news agency Bild, Bild said the exercise will simulate a Russian attack on NATO territory, a scenario that would trigger Article 5. The article states that if a NATO country is attacked, all other alliance countries will mobilize to defend it.

Earlier this week, Admiral Bauer also said at a summit meeting of the 31-nation alliance in Brussels that Russian President Putin’s rationale for the war masks a fear of democracy.

Admiral Bauer said NATO will continue to support Ukraine in the long term.

“Today is the 693rd day of what Russia thought would be a three-day war. “Ukraine will receive our support every day because the outcome of this war will determine the fate of the world,” he said.

“This war was never about a real security threat to Russia from Ukraine or NATO,” Admiral Bauer added.

“This war is about Russia fearing something far more powerful than any physical weapon on earth: democracy. If people in Ukraine can have democratic rights, people in Russia will soon want them too.”

The largest NATO exercise since the Cold War took place in 2018 when around 51,000 troops were involved in ‘Trident Juncture 2018’ in Norway.