THE former head of the British Army has said that care must be taken to ensure that the Ukraine war does not escalate because of mistakes.

Lord Richard Dannatt, former head of the Army, told GB News: “What we absolutely need to avoid is this war escalating in any shape or form as a result of a miscalculation or a mistake.

“So the intention to be cautious, the intention to investigate thoroughly is absolutely right. That said, one’s got to put this in the widest background.

“World leaders are right, experts are right, to establish the facts to make sure that, for goodness sake, this war does not escalate as a result of miscalculation.”

Asked about the war creeping outside the borders of Ukraine, in an interview during Breakfast with Isabel Webster and Paul Hawkins on GB News, he added: “It was always possible that that might happen, but I think one has to look at, and has also to ask the question, why might something like this happen?

“If it was proven to be an accident, and if it was proven that it was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile, then Ukraine has got to make some kind of response in compensation to Poland, to civilians…they’ve got families, they’ve got livelihoods, they’ve got lives that were cut off…

“You can’t blame the Ukrainians for firing many anti-aircraft missiles at the large number of incoming Russian missiles. After all, we all know that hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed.

“Major elements of Ukraine’s so-called national infrastructure, particularly power systems, have been destroyed in recent weeks, so this is a major response by the Ukrainians to a devastating attack on Ukraine itself by Russia.

“I’m afraid the reality is that in a conflict like this, there are going to be accidents, there are going to be mistakes…it’s really, really important to establish the facts before judgments are made and decisions are taken.”

Charles Crawford, former UK ambassador to Poland between 2003 and 2007, said: “It does sound now as if was a stray Ukrainian missile.

“Imagine how difficult it is when Ukraine is being bombarded with those massive rockets from Russia, to be able to shoot them down in mid-air, so it’s not altogether surprising you might not hit every one of them.

“Everything that’s going on in that part of Europe is being incredibly closely monitored by the most high-tech equipment in the world, to try and find out exactly what’s happening. “