UKRAINE’S appeal for advanced western fighter jets is “a reasonable call” according to a former head of the Army.

Lord Richard Dannatt told GB News: “The call for fast jets is an understandable call but it is complicated.

“It’s much more practical for countries that own and operate F-16s. They are a little bit more user friendly, if you like, than the Typhoon aircraft that the UK operates and the F-35s that we have a relatively small number that we’re operating off our aircraft carriers.

“So yes, it’s a reasonable call to put pressure on countries to give some fast jets, but it’s not going to happen quickly.”

Asked about a new Russian offensive in Ukraine during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he said: “Most analysts, on the basis of what we’ve seen so far, think the Russian’s new attack will almost invariably fail and fail with a tremendous number of Russian casualties.

“That’s the moment for the Ukrainians launch their counter offensive, so long as they’ve got the main battle tanks, the armoured infantry fighting vehicles and self propelled artillery.

“They have a very good chance with or without additional fast jets, I think it will be without, but they can muster a successful counter-offensive and really knock the Russians back.”

Asked about defence spending, he said: “This is the moment we need to spend more on our land forces in particular, and that’s principally the Army because what this brutal land war in Europe has shown is that this kind of chin to chin, toe to toe bloody fighting is not a thing of history, is not a thing of the past. It’s today’s issue, as well.

“Yes, we’ve got to spend more money on cyber and space and modern technologies, but I’m afraid some of the old technologies, some of the old ways of warfare are still there.

“The next major event that we will see is the anticipated Russian fresh offensive when they throw into battle a large number of those they recently conscripted…we will see mass infantry attacks supported by widespread artillery support.”

He added: “All the evidence shows that these will be repulsed in a very bloody fashion.

“Russian morale must be very, very low at the present moment. If you strike an army hard, many of its soldiers will think ‘we’ve lost’ and when soldiers think they’ve lost, an army has lost, they don’t have to be defeated in detail everywhere on the battlefield.

“Once psychologically the Russians are gone, then the Russian military will collapse and that’s what Ukraine has got to press for.

“That’s why we’ve got to support them to make those decisive blows to really break the back of the Russian army, break the back of the morale of the Russian soldier.”