THE war in Ukraine heralds the urgent need of a radical review of European defence and deterrence.

This week a distinguished former General told our defence committee that NATO was simply not ready, or sufficiently equipped, to meet this emerging threat from Russia.

Our contribution is significant but, with just 40 serviceable main battle tanks, and plans to reduce the army to 73,000, we simply do not have the mass to sustain prolonged operations.

In a rare intervention, the outgoing head of the Army, General Sir Mark Carleton-Smith, said he would like to see a “greater investment in a larger Army”.

And he’s not the only one.

The West needs to wake up, and fast.

As I’ve said, nothing is certain anymore and there is no room for complacency in the face of Russian brutality.

In Ukraine, the war has entered a new and even deadlier phase, with Putin concentrating his forces in the Donbas region.

President Zelensky’s forces are fighting like lions, but they need arms and equipment which we must continue to send.

In a letter to the Telegraph, I reminded readers how, in our hour of need in 1940, the US had supplied us with arms, to be paid for at a later date.

It certainly evened the odds.

Make no mistake that, while men, women and children are being killed in Ukraine, it is our values that are being crushed, a stark warning of what we could face if this war was to spread.

I believe it has changed the world, fundamentally, and as Putin attempts to draw the Iron Curtain across Europe once again, we must strain every sinew to ensure he cannot.