New army chief tells British troops that they must be capable of 'defeating Russia in battle,' reports say

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine rages with no end in sight, the new chief of the British army told his troops to prepare to fight in Europe again.

The war in Ukraine was the subject of an internal message addressed to all civil servants by the new general.

The message was reported to be "we are the generation that must prepare the Army to fight in Europe again"

There is a "burning imperative to forge an army capable of fighting alongside our allies and defeating Russia in battle" and that troops must be ready to protect the UK.

US Army/Spc. Andrew McNeil

The first Chief of the General Staff since 1941 had taken command of the army in the shadow of a land war in Europe.

The Prime Minister met with the President of Ukraine on Friday. "I am afraid that we need to steel ourselves for a long war, as Putin resorts to a campaign of attrition, trying to grind down Ukraine by sheer brutality," Johnson wrote.

The UK had a plan to reduce the size of its armed forces to 72,500 by the year 2025.