Former Head of the British Army gives his assessment of ceasefire talks

A ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine is “not close at all” and Putin will not agree to “anything like terms people are hoping for,” the former head of the British Army Sir Peter Wall has told LBC.

Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari, Sir Peter Wall warned Vladimir Putin will “not come to the party” on the terms currently being put forward for a ceasefire in Ukraine.

It comes after Putin said "questions" remain over the nature of any truce with Ukraine despite agreeing to the "idea" of a ceasefire.

"Mr Putin, I don't think is going to come to the party on anything like the terms that people might have been hoping for,” Sir Peter Wall told Nick.

“He's not going to be passive and he's very, very clear in his long term objective, which is to reestablish the Russian Empire, something more akin perhaps to the Warsaw Pact, with that sort of cushion in the sort of near abroad of Russia that gave it the security that it had throughout the Cold War.

“And his objectives are very clear. They're long term, they're grand strategic, and this, you know, in comparison, this ceasefire has much narrower, shorter term objectives and he will stick to his guns because he has the leverage".

Any ceasefire deal could take years, the former Army chief warned.

He said: "I think that America will re-engage to try and achieve the ceasefire that it's promised, that Mr Trump has sort of staked his reputation on for the early part of his tenure.

“Having said hitherto that he could stop the war in its tracks in a day, I think we're going to discover it's going to take weeks, months and years perhaps to do that."

Britain should be “very” concerned about the size of its armed forces, he added.

“It was 102,000 when I assumed command of the Army and under the fairly draconian Cameron cuts, it was scheduled to go down to 82,000.

“It's now hovering around 70,000 I believe - so manpower is incredibly important, but so too is weaponry, logistics, ammunition stocks and the funds to train people to a high pitch, to be able to orchestrate the very complex mixes of forces that we now have to field in this modern era. So we are in a sorry state.

“That is a consequence of 10 to 15, maybe 20 years of consistent underfunding, driven by complacency, driven by the peace dividend being channelled into social welfare expenditure and a reliance on American goodwill.

“And it's not lost on anyone in America that effectively, indirectly their taxes are going to pay our social welfare bill. We will need to spend well north of 3% of GDP for a decade to make any serious inroads on the challenge".

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