Russia’s army has GROWN since launching invasion despite suffering huge troops losses and is ‘learning how to defeat the West on Ukrainian battlefields’, top US general warns

Russia’s military has grown since before the invasion of Ukraine, despite heavy troop losses, and is “modernizing” as it learns how to “defeat” Western war techniques and equipment, a top US general has warned.

Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, commander in chief of the U.S. Army’s V Corps, which is stationed in Poland, said the biggest threat to NATO is “obviously Russia,” and that the threat is more imminent than many realize.

“I think there is a misconception that we have time and Russia is taking a lot of losses and it will take a while to rebuild. I don’t have that opinion,” he told Voice of America.

He said that while Vladimir Putin’s conscript army “may not be as well trained” as the original ranks he sent to Ukraine in 2022, the push for more troops has made them a much larger fighting force than before the outbreak of the war.

The military top brass warned that Moscow’s armed forces have also “modernized, and learned lessons from the fighting in Ukraine, which is going to be a problem for us in the West, because Ukraine uses Western equipment, they use Western techniques.”

“Russia is learning how to beat that, and I think we should be ready for it in the short term,” he said.

Russian soldiers attend the Victory Day military parade on Red Square in Moscow on May 9, 2024

Lt. Gen. Costanza, during a discussion on a preparedness timeline, said: “NATO thinks a three- to seven-year horizon needs to be restored, other people say the same thing. I think it’s much more short-term than that.’

He added that while the security alliance may not yet be fully prepared for a confrontation, he had never seen such a real sense of urgency for NATO to prepare as the organization was now displaying.

His comments come after Britain’s Ministry of Defense estimated this month that the number of Russian casualties is likely at more than 465,000 since Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Despite significant losses, Kremlin forces carried out a renewed ground offensive this weekend, targeting towns and villages in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region in the country’s northeast.

The warnings from the US military commander come as the Kremlin continued to issue its own warnings, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying today that Russia is ready to act if the West wants to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield.

“It is their right: if they want it to take place on the battlefield, it will be on the battlefield,” Lavrov said in a commentary carried by Russia’s RIA Novosti.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said today that Russia is ready to commit itself if the West wants to fight for Ukraine on the battlefield. Putin and Lavrov are pictured this week

Lt. Gen. Costanza said: “NATO thinks a three to seven year horizon needs to be restored, other people say the same thing. I think it’s much more short-term than that.”

French president Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly refused to rule out the possibility that Western troops could one day be sent to Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin warned earlier this year that the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine would be possible lead to World War IIIwith the Kremlin saying that all Western equipment is used Kiev attacks will be seen as a legitimate target, even if it is in a third country.

In Britain today, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also acknowledged the looming threat of war, stating: “Putin’s recklessness has brought us closer to a dangerous nuclear escalation than at any time since the Cuban Missile Crisis.”

But Sunak also looked beyond the war in Ukraine, warning that Britain faces an increasingly dangerous future due to threats from an “axis of authoritarian states” including Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.

“I am confident that the coming years will be some of the most dangerous and transformative our country has ever seen,” Sunak said.

Today’s speech comes weeks after the British Prime Minister announced and pledged to deliver a renewed focus on security Defense spending must be increased to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030.

He also said the world is the ‘most volatile’ for years and the UK defense industry must go on a ‘war footing’, as evidenced by statements made during a joint appearance with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg at a military base in the Polish capital last month.

A Russian howitzer fires on Ukrainian positions at an unknown location

Sunak’s attempts to put the British defense industry on a war footing followed General Sir Richard Barrons warned that the country is seriously underprepared for a conflict with Russia, and urged the government to invest heavily in rebuilding the armed forces to meet the challenge.

“Russia is clearly angry and rearming, so their capabilities will be restored and when the shooting in Ukraine stops, Russia will blame us,” he told MailOnline earlier this year.

“We are already in confrontation with Russia. At this point we have chosen to do very little about it.

‘During the Cold War, the military was ready to fight at any time, with four hours’ notice. When the Cold War ended and there was no sense of survival for Britain, that was all dismantled.

“Now we would need five to 10 years’ notice before a Russian surprise attack to deal with this. It is deeply disappointing.”