Deputy army chief says UK troops ready to 'fight tonight' amid rising tension in Ukraine war

​​​​​​​By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - A senior official in the British army said Thursday that his troops are ready to fight if asked amid rising tensions in Russia's war against Ukraine.

"If the British Army was asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight," deputy chief of the UK Defense Staff Rob Magowan said at a defense committee session in the House of Commons.

"I don't think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight, then we would meet them in that fight," he added.

Magowan comments came as lawmakers asked how many British brigades could get to NATO's eastern flank in the event of a major escalation by Russia.

Defense Secretary John Healey told lawmakers that the front line is now "less stable than at any time" since the early days of Russia's war on Ukraine that began in February 2022, citing intelligence.

"And we've seen in recent weeks a very clear escalation from Putin and his forces. They've stepped up attacks on the energy system in Ukraine ahead of winter," he noted.​​​​​​​

"No doubt that the UK government is stepping up our support for Ukraine, determined to continue doubling down our support for Ukraine," said Healey.

"These are serious times, war in Europe, conflict in the Middle East, rising, global threats, which is precisely the reason why we must increase the defense spending to 2.5%" of GDP, he added.