5 h. ago Ukraine war briefing: Poland scrambles planes to secure airspace as Russia targets western Ukraine

The Polish response comes as Russian troops advance on east-central Ukraine. What we know on day 1,202See all our Ukraine war coveragePoland and allied countries scrambled aircraft early on Monday to ensure the safety of Polish airspace after Russia launched airstrikes targeting western Ukraine near the Polish border, the operational command of the Polish armed forces said. “The steps taken are aimed at ensuring security in the regions bordering the areas at risk,” it said on X.All of Ukraine was under air raid alerts in the early hours of Monday after the Ukrainian air force warned of Russian missile and drone attacks.Russia launched an air attack on Kyiv, which Ukraine’s air defence units were trying to repel, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said on the Telegram messaging app early on Monday.Russia says its forces are advancing to the edge of the east-central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk for the first time in the three-year war, raising the prospect of a...

Events

27 h. ago Britain has escalated the global nuclear arms race – and is bringing us closer to armageddon | Simon Tisdall

The UK’s strategic defence review risks normalising nuclear warfare. Don’t believe the PR hype: these weapons are immoral, irrational and catastrophicPlans by Keir Starmer’s government to modernise and potentially expand Britain’s nuclear weapons arsenal, unveiled in the 2025 strategic defence review (SDR), seriously undermine international non-proliferation efforts. They will fuel a global nuclear arms race led by the US, China and Russia. And they increase the chances that lower-yield, so-called tactical nukes will be deployed and detonated in conflict zones.This dangerous path leads in one direction only: towards the normalisation of nuclear warfare.Simon Tisdall is a Guardian foreign affairs commentator Continue reading...

Sport

45 h. ago Russia is already at war with Britain and we can no longer rely on Trump, defence adviser warns

‘Russia is at war with us’, one of the authors of Sir Keir Starmer’s flagship strategic defence review has warned

Events

49 h. ago Mad Vlad already at war with Britain and US won't save us, expert says

Foreign policy and Russia expert Fiona Hill issued a terrifying warning, saying Britain is in 'pretty big trouble' after reviewing the government's defence strategy

Events

62 h. ago Russia is at war with Britain and US is no longer a reliable ally, UK adviser says

Government defence expert Fiona Hill warns UK to respond to threats by becoming more cohesive and resilientRussia is at war with Britain, the US is no longer a reliable ally and the UK has to respond by becoming more cohesive and more resilient, according to one of the three authors of the strategic defence review.Fiona Hill, from county Durham, became the White House’s chief Russia adviser during Donald Trump’s first term and contributed to the British government’s strategy. She made the remarks in an interview with the Guardian. Continue reading...

Events

2 d. ago Lebanese army warns Israeli airstrikes might force it to freeze cooperation with ceasefire committee

The Lebanese army has condemned Israel’s airstrikes on suburbs of Beirut, warning that such attacks are weakening the role of Lebanon’s armed forces that might eventually suspend cooperation with the committee monitoring the truce that ended the Israel-Hezbollah war

Events

4 d. ago Why is defence such a hard sell? The same reason Starmer is struggling in the polls | Martin Kettle

Decades of failures have left liberal democratic governments unable to command public confidence when it really mattersDefence reviews and foreign policy resets seem to turn up almost as often as the Sussexes’ lifestyle brand relaunches these days. Labour’s strategic defence review this week comes less than two years after the Conservatives’ hardly less detailed defence white paper in July 2023, which in turn was a “refresh” of Boris Johnson’s ambitious integrated review of defence and foreign policy of March 2021. By this measure, it must be doubtful if, come the 2030s, analysts will look back on Keir Starmer and John Healey’s review and say it broke the mould.The Labour government was entitled to try to put its own stamp on defence policy, of course, and its review team of George Robertson, Richard Barrons and Fiona Hill did a good, reasonably independent job. Yet this 2020s pattern of repeated strategic adaptation and refocus feels like the new normal now. It is also true that gr...

Politics

4 d. ago Five ways Putin could bring UK to its knees within hours of World War 3 breaking out

Strategic Defence Review details methods that could be employed by the Kremlin if conflict broke out

Politics

4 d. ago Watch live: Starmer faces Badenoch at PMQs after Reeves vows winter fuel U

Watch live as Sir Keir Starmer faces Kemi Badenoch at PMQs on Wednesday (4 June), days after unveiling the UK's defence strategy for the next decade.

Politics

4 d. ago Keir Starmer 'picks money man RAF chief to head UK Armed Forces' as he launches push to get Britain 'war

Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, an RAF engineer, is reportedly in line to be the next Chief of Defence Staff.

Events

5 d. ago Starmer chooses RAF chief Sir Richard Knighton to lead armed forces

Prime minister is understood to have made chief of the defence staff appointment amid what has been billed as the most transformative period for the MoD in decades

Events

5 d. ago ‘We have no plans to attack Britain,' say Russia’s London diplomats as defence review lays out Putin threats

The Strategic Defence Review mentions Russia 33 times and tells of the ‘immediate and pressing threat’ posed by Putin’s regime

Politics

5 d. ago Nato ‘will force Starmer to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence’ to keep Trump happy

PM under pressure from nuclear alliance and US president after row over funding threatened to derail the launch of strategic defence review,

Politics

5 d. ago Nato to force UK to lift defence spending to 3.5% of GDP to appease Trump, say sources

Starmer bound to accept Mark Rutte’s higher target after announcing ‘Nato-first’ defence strategy, insiders sayDefence sources believe that Britain will be forced to sign up to a target of lifting defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035 at this month’s Nato summit after a campaign by the alliance’s secretary general to keep Donald Trump onboard.One senior insider said Britain would “without a doubt” sign up to a proposal from the Nato chief, Mark Rutte, to lift allies’ defence spending, which would represent a real-terms increase of about £30bn from the Labour government’s plan. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Defence secretary fails to rule out tax rises to fund defence spending uplift

While John Healey said he is ‘100 per cent confident’ the defence spending uplift would be achieved, he struggled to say how it would be paid for

Economics

6 d. ago Crucial defence review warns Britain's Armed Forces aren't ready to fight a war against a foe with similar capabilities in stark assessment of UK's military prowess

Britain's Armed Forces aren't ready to fight a war against a military with similar capabilities, the authors of Britain's Strategic Defence Review have warned.

Events

6 d. ago New defence plans could lead to ‘significant cuts’ in other areas, MPs warn

John Healey said the Strategic Defence Review (SDR) is ‘not about cuts’, amid concerns the plans will be funded at the expense of existing programmes.

Events

6 d. ago UK issued ominous warning of 'enemies at our door' as PM unveils major defence plan

The Prime Minister said the long-awaited strategic defence review would make the UK 'safer and stronger, a battle-ready, armour-clad nation' amid Russian threats

Events

6 d. ago Strategic defence review live: Starmer reveals largest increase in spending since Cold War as UK faces ‘new era of threat’

John Healey warns ‘new era’ for UK defence needed as ‘threats we face now more serious and less predictable than at any time since end of Cold War’

Events

6 d. ago Strategic Defence Review: The key points of plan to create '10 times more lethal' British Army

Key points at a glance as Prime Minister and Defence Secretary unveil plan to keep Britain safe against rise in foreign threats

Politics