This AP map shows sabotage across Europe that has been blamed on Russia and its proxies
Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since the invasion of Ukraine three years ago, according to data collected by The Associated Press.
They allege the disruption campaign is an extension of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war, intended to sow division in European societies and undermine support for Ukraine.
The AP documented 59 incidents in which European governments, prosecutors, intelligence services or other Western officials blamed Russia, groups linked to Russia or its ally Belarus for cyberattacks, spreading propaganda, plotting killings or committing acts of vandalism, arson, sabotage or espionage since the Feb. 24, 2022, invasion.
The incidents range from stuffing car tailpipes with expanding foam in Germany to a plot to plant explosives on cargo planes. They include setting fire to stores and a museum, hacking that targeted politicians and critical infrastructure, and spying by a ring convicted in the U.K.
Richard Moore, the head of Britain's foreign intelligence service, called it a 'staggeringly reckless campaign' in November.
It is often difficult to prove Russia's involvement, and the Kremlin denied carrying out a sabotage campaign against the West. But more and more governments are publicly attributing attacks to Russia.
The alleged disruption has a double purpose, James Appathurai, the NATO official responsible for the alliance's response to such threats, told the AP.
One is to create 'political disquiet' and undermine citizens' support for their governments and the other is to 'undercut support for Ukraine,' said Appathurai, deputy assistant secretary-general for Innovation, Hybrid, and Cyber.
During the investigation, the AP spoke to 15 current officials, including two prime ministers, and officials from five European intelligence services, three defense ministries and NATO, in addition to experts.
The AP plotted the incidents on a map to show the scope of the alleged campaign, which experts say is particularly worrying at a time when U.S. support for Ukraine is wavering and European allies are questioning Washington's reliability as a security partner and ally.
What is happening?
The cases are varied, and the largest concentrations are in countries that are major supporters of Ukraine.
Some incidents had the potential for catastrophic consequences, including mass casualties, as when packages exploded at shipping facilities in Germany and the U.K. Western officials said they suspected the packages were part of a broader plot by Russian intelligence to put bombs on cargo planes headed to the U.S. and Canada.
In another case, Western intelligence agencies uncovered what they said was a Russian plot to kill the head of a major German arms manufacturer that is a supplier of weapons to Ukraine.
European authorities are investigating several cases of damage to infrastructure under the Baltic Sea, including to a power cable linking Estonia and Finland. Finnish authorities detained a ship, suspected of being part of Russia's 'shadow fleet' used to avoid sanctions, after that cable and others were damaged.
When a fake French Defense Ministry website claimed citizens were being called up to fight in Ukraine, a French minister denounced it as Russian disinformation. German authorities suspect Russia was behind a campaign to block up scores of car tailpipes ahead of national elections, according to a European intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
Officials from Estonia, Poland, Latvia and Finland, meanwhile, have accused Russia and Belarus of directing migrants to their borders.
Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told the AP that the Kremlin has never been shown 'any proofs' supporting the accusations and said 'certainly we definitely reject any allegations.'
How AP documented the cases
The AP scoured through hundreds of incidents suspected to be linked to Russia since Moscow's invasion that were reported in open sources such as local media and government websites.
They were included in AP's tally only when officials drew a clear link to Russia, pro-Russian groups or ally Belarus. Most of the accusations were made to or reported by AP, either at the time they occurred or during the course of this investigation. Fourteen cases were reported by other news organizations and attributed to named officials.
In about a quarter of the cases, prosecutors have brought charges or courts have convicted people of carrying out the sabotage. But in many more, no specific culprit has been publicly identified or brought to justice.
A 'bolder' approach
Countries have always spied on their enemies and long waged propaganda campaigns to further their interests abroad. But since the invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has become 'bolder,' hitting the West with sabotage, vandalism and arson in addition to the tactics it previously used, including killings and cyberattacks, said Elisabeth Braw, an expert on the attacks at the Atlantic Council in Washington.
'The way you can weaken a country today is not by invading it,' she said.
China has also been accused of espionage and cyber operations in Europe, and The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukrainian authorities were responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in 2022. Kyiv has denied this.
'Multiple countries engage in hybrid operations,' said David Salvo, managing director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the German Marshall Fund. 'Russia is the overwhelming culprit in Europe.'
How to respond — even as US support wavers
A coordinated approach — especially sharing intelligence — is critical to tracking and countering the threats, Appathurai said.
That cooperation — never easy since intelligence is not shared collectively across NATO members — faces new challenges now, as the Trump administration increasingly questions the role of the alliance, embraces Russia and spars with its European partners.
Still, as the scale of the campaign becomes clearer, some nations are becoming more assertive.
Appathurai pointed to the approach to suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea, where NATO has launched a mission to protect critical infrastructure.
'If we are to have a chance of stemming the threat,' Braw said, 'then we have to work together.'
___
Associated Press reporters John Leicester in Paris; Vanessa Gera and Monika Scislowska in Warsaw, Poland; Jill Lawless in London; Kirsten Grieshaber and Geir Moulson in Berlin; Suman Naishadham in Madrid; Justin Spike in Budapest, Hungary; and Karel Janicek in Prague, Czech Republic, contributed.
___
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
![By Deborah Haynes, Sky News security and defence editor"The Russians are signalling that there may be - let's call it what it is - there may be an attack." Fictional UK Home Secretary The warning from the home secretary at an emergency Cobra meeting is stark. The prime minister must decide what to do after the Kremlin deployed a large task force of warships, fighter jets and submarines to the North Atlantic. Russian ships in the Baltic earlier this year. Credit: AP/Russian Defence Ministry The whole of the United Kingdom is within range of their missiles. Russia and the UK are both nuclear-armed powers. President Vladimir Putin has threatened the UK in the past. Pic: AP President Vladimir Putin has threatened the UK in the past. Pic: AP"The best outcome is this is just a show of force. The worst outcome is this is setting a force in order to attack the UK." Chief of the Defence Staff This is the opening scene of a new five-part podcast series from Sky News and Tortoise called The Wargame. It simulates a Russian attack on the UK. Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app The scenario is described as very low likelihood but high impact. That means a low chance of it happening but catastrophic consequences if it did. Image captions Setting up The Wargame... A year in the making, but recorded in just one day, The Wargame explores the reality of the threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia could pose to Britain, its people and normal, everyday life. Listen to Sky's security and defence editor Deborah Haynes outline how the game works in the video above. Inside The Wargame emergency meeting room. The Wargame also tests the true state of the UK's defences and national resilience after decades of cost-saving cuts since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. And the scenario imagines how the UK's allies might respond, in particular the United States: would they mobilise to defend Britain in a crisis? Everything going on in The Wargame was recorded The scenario is based in the near future and pitches a fictional British government against a team of Russia experts in an imagined Kremlin. Rob Johnson, who heads the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University, agreed to create the game after I approached him about the idea last year. I said I would find the players and turn the project into a podcast. The Wargame is the kind of exercise that is genuinely tested inside government. The main difference, though, is that nothing discussed in Rob's version is classified. It means we are able to make the whole thing public. A year in the making, but recorded in just one day, The Wargame explores the reality of the threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia could pose to Britain, its people and normal, everyday life. The Wargame also tests the true state of the UK's defences and national resilience after decades of cost-saving cuts since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Listen to Sky's security and defence editor Deborah Haynes outline how The Wargame works And the scenario imagines how the UK's allies might respond, in particular the United States: would they mobilise to defend Britain in a crisis? The scenario is based in the near future and pitches a fictional British government against a team of Russia experts in an imagined Kremlin. Rob Johnson, who heads the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University, agreed to create the game after I approached him about the idea last year. Inside The Wargame Cobra room Inside The Wargame Cobra room I said I would find the players and turn the project into a podcast. The Wargame is the kind of exercise that is genuinely tested inside government. The main difference, though, is that nothing discussed in Rob's version is classified. It means we are able to make the whole thing public. Image captions I assembled a cast of former ministers, military and security chiefs and other experts to play the British and Russian governments. No one received any payment for taking part in The Wargame. Former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace, who was at the forefront of Britain's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, plays the PM. Jack Straw, who served under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, steps back into the foreign secretary job. Home secretary under Theresa May, Amber Rudd steps back into her old position. The other members of our Cobra team are: Jim Murphy (Labour), a former secretary of state for Scotland, as chancellor. James Heappey (Conservative), previously the armed forces minister, is the defence secretary. Baroness Helena Kennedy Baroness Helena Kennedy Baroness Helena Kennedy (Labour), a barrister and expert on human rights law, agreed to become the attorney general. Lord Mark Sedwill is the national security adviser, a role he held for real from 2017 to 2020. General Sir Richard Barrons plays the role of Chief of the Defence Staff. He is a former senior commander who was a co-author of a major defence review published last week by the government. General Sir Richard Barrons General Sir Richard Barrons Lieutenant General Sir David Capewell, a former chief of joint operations, reprises his role as the UK's warfighting commander. Victorian Mackarness, a communications expert, plays the role of Downing Street press secretary. Image captions Episode 1 of The Wargame is called 'False Flag'. It begins at 5pm on Sunday 5 October, 2025. Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our fictional PM begins the emergency meeting in the video above. The Wargame's PM Sir Ben Wallace. Ben Wallace, the prime minister, has just called an emergency Cobra meeting after police in Norfolk discover the bodies of two of the Royal Air Force's elite F-35 fighter pilots. They suspect a Russian assassination plot. The attorney general and home secretary look on It comes after a bomb attack devastated a naval base in northern Russia, killing dozens of sailors. The Kremlin says British spies were to blame. London has denied involvement but the Russian side is not listening. Its deployment of a heavily-armed task force to the North Atlantic is an exceptionally aggressive move. The British government must decide what to do next. Episode 1 of The Wargame is called 'False Flag'. It begins at 5pm on Sunday 5 October 2025. Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our fictional PM begins the fictional emergency meeting Ben Wallace, the prime minister, has just called an emergency Cobra meeting after police in Norfolk discover the bodies of two of the Royal Air Force's elite F-35 fighter pilots. They suspect a Russian assassination plot. It comes after a bomb attack devastated a naval base in northern Russia, killing dozens of sailors. The Kremlin says British spies were to blame. London has denied involvement but the Russian side is not listening. Its deployment of a heavily armed taskforce to the North Atlantic is an exceptionally aggressive move. The British government must decide what to do next. Image captions You might wonder why two news organisations chose to run a wargame. Let me explain. When the Cold War ended, successive governments decided to switch funding away from defence and into peacetime priorities such as health, welfare and economic growth. It was seen as a "peace dividend" following the collapse of the Soviet Union, with politicians and the public gambling on a belief that the threat of war on the homefront was over. The UK is a founding member of NATO. Pic: AP The UK is a founding member of NATO. Pic: AP If things did go wrong, the thinking went, the United States, with its vast and powerful armed forces, would still have our back as part of the NATO alliance. Like most people of my generation - I am 48 - I have a fuzzy memory of the Cold War. But for my entire adult life, people living in Britain have not generally needed to worry about an existential conflict destroying their everyday lives, so public awareness about what that would mean in reality has unsurprisingly lapsed. Russian soldiers ride a T-90M Proryv tank. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry Russian soldiers ride a T-90M Proryv tank. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry By contrast, the credible sense of imminent peril is what enabled heavy investment on defence and deterrence to continue long after the guns in the Second World War fell silent. As an insurance policy, it felt like a bargain compared with the devastating cost of total war. Experts say Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 should have been the wake-up call for the UK and Europe to take defence and national resilience seriously once more. Russian soldiers operate a drone in Ukraine. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry Russian soldiers operate a drone in Ukraine. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry But because this country still feels pretty safe, it's perhaps hard to understand why or even whether it matters. It made me wonder, what if we simulate an emergency and find out how the UK might respond? Whatever the outcome, it would at least bring back to life the reality of the threat. Image captions The home secretary has a question."Do you have any view, prime minister, or perhaps the foreign secretary will, about what the Russians are after? What are they trying to achieve? Is it anything in particular or is it retaliation for an event that took place that we weren't in fact responsible for, but they want to show a response to?" Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our national security adviser discusses the challenges posed by Russia in the video above. James Heappey playing defence secretary The prime minister replies: "Well, one of the challenges is Russia has a long track record of false flag for the purpose of its own agenda." A false flag can mean an action - like a bombing or an assassination - that is done by one side but blamed on the other to create a fake pretext to attack them. Attribution is also hard, making it difficult for the accused to prove their innocence. The prime minister wants to mobilise the military to do what it can to deter the threat. His military chief recommends deploying the few warships and jets that are available. The defence secretary has two concerns."We will not be able to deploy that amount of force in secret," he says."Secondly, it won't escape the notice of many in the commentariat that what we do deploy is still overmatched by what the Russians have deployed." The home secretary has a question."Do you have any view, prime minister, or perhaps the foreign secretary will, about what the Russians are after? What are they trying to achieve? Is it anything in particular or is it retaliation for an event that took place that we weren't in fact responsible for, but they want to show a response to?" Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which Lord Mark Sedwill discusses the challenges posed by Russia The prime minister replies: "Well, one of the challenges is Russia has a long track record of false flag for the purpose of its own agenda." A false flag can mean an action - like a bombing or an assassination - that is done by one side but blamed on the other to create a fake pretext to attack them. Attribution is also hard, making it difficult for the accused to prove their innocence. James Heappey playing Defence Secretary James Heappey playing Defence Secretary The prime minister wants to mobilise the military to do what it can to deter the threat. His military chief recommends deploying the few warships and jets that are available. The defence secretary has two concerns."We will not be able to deploy that amount of force in secret," he says. "Secondly, it won't escape the notice of many in the commentariat that what we do deploy is still overmatched by what the Russians have deployed." Image captions Rob Johnson explains how his scenario was created."I had to go away and do a bit of research," he says. "What was it like in the Cold War? What capabilities did we have? What were the emergency procedures? What did they look like?""Then I looked at how we could create that sensation inside a room. So we chose a bunker. We also mocked up some documents," he says."We've created some maps… We've got a Russia team.. We had to ask them: what would Russia do?" Our imagined Kremlin is led by Keir Giles, an author and Russia expert, who - like the rest of his team - has long experience of playing the "red team" in wargames. Keir Giles led the fictional Kremlin team Keir Giles led the fictional Kremlin team"Ordinarily when this red team gets together… we run rings around the opposition." This is "partly because Russia has the initiative, partly because Russia has the tools [and] partly because Russia has the will and the determination to cause damage sometimes in ways that the opposition… doesn't imagine before the game actually starts". Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app Image captions Deciding where to run the game was key. We wanted to simulate the government's emergency Cobra meeting, chaired by our fictional prime minister and held in a bunker. We also needed a second room to be a pretend Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) for the military. Finally, we had to create a Kremlin, where our Russian president would assemble with this team. Tortoise Media agreed to turn the basement of their building into the set of The Wargame. Concern from Home Secretary Amber Rudd Concern from Home Secretary Amber Rudd It has a web of corridors that connect to multiple rooms, making the site an ideal venue. The largest underground room was used for the Cobra (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) crisis meetings, with ministers and top officials positioned around a long table. A bank of screens lines the wall at one end of the room. Maps can be displayed on the screens. Your browser does not support this video The foreign secretary and national security advisor in The Wargame The foreign secretary and national security advisor in The Wargame Crucially, they also provide a video link for the Cobra team to request a call with an imagined US secretary of state as well as the head of the NATO alliance whenever they choose. James Shield, a producer at Tortoise, asked Professor Phillips O'Brien, the head of international studies at the University of St Andrews, to be our top American diplomat. Elisabeth Braw, a leading expert on security and defence, plays the NATO chief. The Wargame's NATO Secretary-General, Elisabeth Braw The Wargame's NATO Secretary-General, Elisabeth Braw Across a narrow corridor from the Cobra meeting area is a smaller room, which we pretend is the military headquarters. This is where our chief of joint operations and a team of six advisers, with expertise in defence, security and national resilience, assemble. At the other end of the basement, along a corridor and through two doors, in another fairly large room, we establish the Russia side. Image captions As the person running the show, Rob is the games master, leading what is known as the white cell. He has several helpers who must provide new pieces of information to different players as the game progresses - these are known as "injects". Rob also sits in the main Cobra meeting, taking on the role of chair of the joint intelligence committee, who provides all the intelligence updates. Your browser does not support this video General Sir Richard Barrons as Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Richard Barrons as Chief of the Defence Staff The game is slightly unusual because the Russian red team knows beforehand the main moves they will make. Their primary role is to explain the Kremlin's way of thinking and why it might be taking such actions. By contrast, the British blue team has no idea what is about to happen and must do the best they can to defend Britain. A moment of shock? A moment of shock? To inject a further sense of realism into the three rooms, we mock up news reports to cover moments of drama as they unfold. Katie Gunning, a former BBC newsreader, is the voice of our pretend British rolling news channel, while Valeriy Akimenko, an expert on Russian state communications, will help us craft imagined Russian state media bulletins. Image captions"We are calling on our allies internationally to join with the United Kingdom to defend collectively and to fight back."The message is we are not alone and Russia must understand that they cannot bully, intimidate or strike us without serious consequences." Prime Minister Ben Wallace in The Wargame The Wargame comes at a time when national defence and resilience is back in focus. The UK and its European allies are expected to agree to a big hike in defence spending to keep Donald Trump on side when they gather for a NATO summit later this month. Sir Keir Starmer also published a major review of defence last week that said Britain must rebuild its armed forces and get ready for war because the threat of conflict with a nuclear power like Russia or China is real. Sir Keir Starmer on the deck of the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier. Pic: PA Sir Keir Starmer on the deck of the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier. Pic: PA Russia denied posing a danger. Its embassy in London said: "Russia poses no threat to the United Kingdom and its people. "We harbour no aggressive intentions and have no plans to attack Britain. We are not interested in doing so, nor do we need to." Responding to the review's recommendations, the prime minister said the UK will make more submarines, build more weapons factories and buy more missiles. He also pledged to boost the reserve forces, expand a military cadet force and revive wider national resilience. But returning the nation to one that is better prepared for war will be expensive and it will require the whole country to play their part. Whether that happens and how quickly then comes down to choice. The first two episodes of The Wargame are out now. Two more will be released on 17 June and the final episode will be out on 24 June. Click below to follow The Wargame wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app Image captions Deborah Haynes speaks to The Wargame participants Deborah Haynes speaks to The Wargame participants CREDITS Reporting: Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor Production: Katy Scholes, defence and security producer Shorthand production: Michael Drummond, foreign news reporter Editing: Alessandra Rizzo, output editor Design: Rachel McCarthy, Stephen Whistance, Fedele Rinaldi, Arianne Cantwell and Eloise Atter, designers Pictures: Reuters, Associated Press, PA The Wargame podcast: Production: James Shield, series producer, Jess Swinburne, development producer and Katy Scholes Sound design and original music: Tom Kinsella Editing: Paul Stanworth, commissioning editor and Jasper Corbett (Tortoise) Executive producers: Sarah Whitehead and David Mapstone Top Built with Shorthand The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? This content is provided by The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK?, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies for this session only. Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fe3.365dm.com%2F25%2F06%2F1600x900%2Fskynews-haynes-the-wargame_6937856.jpg%3F20250609231138&w=3840&q=100)
![By Deborah Haynes, Sky News security and defence editor"The Russians are signalling that there may be - let's call it what it is - there may be an attack." Fictional UK Home Secretary The warning from the home secretary at an emergency Cobra meeting is stark. The prime minister must decide what to do after the Kremlin deployed a large task force of warships, fighter jets and submarines to the North Atlantic. Russian ships in the Baltic earlier this year. Credit: AP/Russian Defence Ministry The whole of the United Kingdom is within range of their missiles. Russia and the UK are both nuclear-armed powers. President Vladimir Putin has threatened the UK in the past. Pic: AP President Vladimir Putin has threatened the UK in the past. Pic: AP"The best outcome is this is just a show of force. The worst outcome is this is setting a force in order to attack the UK." Chief of the Defence Staff This is the opening scene of a new five-part podcast series from Sky News and Tortoise called The Wargame. It simulates a Russian attack on the UK. Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app The scenario is described as very low likelihood but high impact. That means a low chance of it happening but catastrophic consequences if it did. Image captions Setting up The Wargame... A year in the making, but recorded in just one day, The Wargame explores the reality of the threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia could pose to Britain, its people and normal, everyday life. Listen to Sky's security and defence editor Deborah Haynes outline how the game works in the video above. Inside The Wargame emergency meeting room. The Wargame also tests the true state of the UK's defences and national resilience after decades of cost-saving cuts since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. And the scenario imagines how the UK's allies might respond, in particular the United States: would they mobilise to defend Britain in a crisis? Everything going on in The Wargame was recorded The scenario is based in the near future and pitches a fictional British government against a team of Russia experts in an imagined Kremlin. Rob Johnson, who heads the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University, agreed to create the game after I approached him about the idea last year. I said I would find the players and turn the project into a podcast. The Wargame is the kind of exercise that is genuinely tested inside government. The main difference, though, is that nothing discussed in Rob's version is classified. It means we are able to make the whole thing public. A year in the making, but recorded in just one day, The Wargame explores the reality of the threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia could pose to Britain, its people and normal, everyday life. The Wargame also tests the true state of the UK's defences and national resilience after decades of cost-saving cuts since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Listen to Sky's security and defence editor Deborah Haynes outline how The Wargame works And the scenario imagines how the UK's allies might respond, in particular the United States: would they mobilise to defend Britain in a crisis? The scenario is based in the near future and pitches a fictional British government against a team of Russia experts in an imagined Kremlin. Rob Johnson, who heads the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University, agreed to create the game after I approached him about the idea last year. Inside The Wargame Cobra room Inside The Wargame Cobra room I said I would find the players and turn the project into a podcast. The Wargame is the kind of exercise that is genuinely tested inside government. The main difference, though, is that nothing discussed in Rob's version is classified. It means we are able to make the whole thing public. Image captions I assembled a cast of former ministers, military and security chiefs and other experts to play the British and Russian governments. No one received any payment for taking part in The Wargame. Former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace, who was at the forefront of Britain's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, plays the PM. Jack Straw, who served under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, steps back into the foreign secretary job. Home secretary under Theresa May, Amber Rudd steps back into her old position. The other members of our Cobra team are: Jim Murphy (Labour), a former secretary of state for Scotland, as chancellor. James Heappey (Conservative), previously the armed forces minister, is the defence secretary. Baroness Helena Kennedy Baroness Helena Kennedy Baroness Helena Kennedy (Labour), a barrister and expert on human rights law, agreed to become the attorney general. Lord Mark Sedwill is the national security adviser, a role he held for real from 2017 to 2020. General Sir Richard Barrons plays the role of Chief of the Defence Staff. He is a former senior commander who was a co-author of a major defence review published last week by the government. General Sir Richard Barrons General Sir Richard Barrons Lieutenant General Sir David Capewell, a former chief of joint operations, reprises his role as the UK's warfighting commander. Victorian Mackarness, a communications expert, plays the role of Downing Street press secretary. Image captions Episode 1 of The Wargame is called 'False Flag'. It begins at 5pm on Sunday 5 October, 2025. Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our fictional PM begins the emergency meeting in the video above. The Wargame's PM Sir Ben Wallace. Ben Wallace, the prime minister, has just called an emergency Cobra meeting after police in Norfolk discover the bodies of two of the Royal Air Force's elite F-35 fighter pilots. They suspect a Russian assassination plot. The attorney general and home secretary look on It comes after a bomb attack devastated a naval base in northern Russia, killing dozens of sailors. The Kremlin says British spies were to blame. London has denied involvement but the Russian side is not listening. Its deployment of a heavily-armed task force to the North Atlantic is an exceptionally aggressive move. The British government must decide what to do next. Episode 1 of The Wargame is called 'False Flag'. It begins at 5pm on Sunday 5 October 2025. Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our fictional PM begins the fictional emergency meeting Ben Wallace, the prime minister, has just called an emergency Cobra meeting after police in Norfolk discover the bodies of two of the Royal Air Force's elite F-35 fighter pilots. They suspect a Russian assassination plot. It comes after a bomb attack devastated a naval base in northern Russia, killing dozens of sailors. The Kremlin says British spies were to blame. London has denied involvement but the Russian side is not listening. Its deployment of a heavily armed taskforce to the North Atlantic is an exceptionally aggressive move. The British government must decide what to do next. Image captions You might wonder why two news organisations chose to run a wargame. Let me explain. When the Cold War ended, successive governments decided to switch funding away from defence and into peacetime priorities such as health, welfare and economic growth. It was seen as a "peace dividend" following the collapse of the Soviet Union, with politicians and the public gambling on a belief that the threat of war on the homefront was over. The UK is a founding member of NATO. Pic: AP The UK is a founding member of NATO. Pic: AP If things did go wrong, the thinking went, the United States, with its vast and powerful armed forces, would still have our back as part of the NATO alliance. Like most people of my generation - I am 48 - I have a fuzzy memory of the Cold War. But for my entire adult life, people living in Britain have not generally needed to worry about an existential conflict destroying their everyday lives, so public awareness about what that would mean in reality has unsurprisingly lapsed. Russian soldiers ride a T-90M Proryv tank. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry Russian soldiers ride a T-90M Proryv tank. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry By contrast, the credible sense of imminent peril is what enabled heavy investment on defence and deterrence to continue long after the guns in the Second World War fell silent. As an insurance policy, it felt like a bargain compared with the devastating cost of total war. Experts say Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 should have been the wake-up call for the UK and Europe to take defence and national resilience seriously once more. Russian soldiers operate a drone in Ukraine. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry Russian soldiers operate a drone in Ukraine. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry But because this country still feels pretty safe, it's perhaps hard to understand why or even whether it matters. It made me wonder, what if we simulate an emergency and find out how the UK might respond? Whatever the outcome, it would at least bring back to life the reality of the threat. Image captions The home secretary has a question."Do you have any view, prime minister, or perhaps the foreign secretary will, about what the Russians are after? What are they trying to achieve? Is it anything in particular or is it retaliation for an event that took place that we weren't in fact responsible for, but they want to show a response to?" Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our national security adviser discusses the challenges posed by Russia in the video above. James Heappey playing defence secretary The prime minister replies: "Well, one of the challenges is Russia has a long track record of false flag for the purpose of its own agenda." A false flag can mean an action - like a bombing or an assassination - that is done by one side but blamed on the other to create a fake pretext to attack them. Attribution is also hard, making it difficult for the accused to prove their innocence. The prime minister wants to mobilise the military to do what it can to deter the threat. His military chief recommends deploying the few warships and jets that are available. The defence secretary has two concerns."We will not be able to deploy that amount of force in secret," he says."Secondly, it won't escape the notice of many in the commentariat that what we do deploy is still overmatched by what the Russians have deployed." The home secretary has a question."Do you have any view, prime minister, or perhaps the foreign secretary will, about what the Russians are after? What are they trying to achieve? Is it anything in particular or is it retaliation for an event that took place that we weren't in fact responsible for, but they want to show a response to?" Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which Lord Mark Sedwill discusses the challenges posed by Russia The prime minister replies: "Well, one of the challenges is Russia has a long track record of false flag for the purpose of its own agenda." A false flag can mean an action - like a bombing or an assassination - that is done by one side but blamed on the other to create a fake pretext to attack them. Attribution is also hard, making it difficult for the accused to prove their innocence. James Heappey playing Defence Secretary James Heappey playing Defence Secretary The prime minister wants to mobilise the military to do what it can to deter the threat. His military chief recommends deploying the few warships and jets that are available. The defence secretary has two concerns."We will not be able to deploy that amount of force in secret," he says. "Secondly, it won't escape the notice of many in the commentariat that what we do deploy is still overmatched by what the Russians have deployed." Image captions Rob Johnson explains how his scenario was created."I had to go away and do a bit of research," he says. "What was it like in the Cold War? What capabilities did we have? What were the emergency procedures? What did they look like?""Then I looked at how we could create that sensation inside a room. So we chose a bunker. We also mocked up some documents," he says."We've created some maps… We've got a Russia team.. We had to ask them: what would Russia do?" Our imagined Kremlin is led by Keir Giles, an author and Russia expert, who - like the rest of his team - has long experience of playing the "red team" in wargames. Keir Giles led the fictional Kremlin team Keir Giles led the fictional Kremlin team"Ordinarily when this red team gets together… we run rings around the opposition." This is "partly because Russia has the initiative, partly because Russia has the tools [and] partly because Russia has the will and the determination to cause damage sometimes in ways that the opposition… doesn't imagine before the game actually starts". Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app Image captions Deciding where to run the game was key. We wanted to simulate the government's emergency Cobra meeting, chaired by our fictional prime minister and held in a bunker. We also needed a second room to be a pretend Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) for the military. Finally, we had to create a Kremlin, where our Russian president would assemble with this team. Tortoise Media agreed to turn the basement of their building into the set of The Wargame. Concern from Home Secretary Amber Rudd Concern from Home Secretary Amber Rudd It has a web of corridors that connect to multiple rooms, making the site an ideal venue. The largest underground room was used for the Cobra (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) crisis meetings, with ministers and top officials positioned around a long table. A bank of screens lines the wall at one end of the room. Maps can be displayed on the screens. Your browser does not support this video The foreign secretary and national security advisor in The Wargame The foreign secretary and national security advisor in The Wargame Crucially, they also provide a video link for the Cobra team to request a call with an imagined US secretary of state as well as the head of the NATO alliance whenever they choose. James Shield, a producer at Tortoise, asked Professor Phillips O'Brien, the head of international studies at the University of St Andrews, to be our top American diplomat. Elisabeth Braw, a leading expert on security and defence, plays the NATO chief. The Wargame's NATO Secretary-General, Elisabeth Braw The Wargame's NATO Secretary-General, Elisabeth Braw Across a narrow corridor from the Cobra meeting area is a smaller room, which we pretend is the military headquarters. This is where our chief of joint operations and a team of six advisers, with expertise in defence, security and national resilience, assemble. At the other end of the basement, along a corridor and through two doors, in another fairly large room, we establish the Russia side. Image captions As the person running the show, Rob is the games master, leading what is known as the white cell. He has several helpers who must provide new pieces of information to different players as the game progresses - these are known as "injects". Rob also sits in the main Cobra meeting, taking on the role of chair of the joint intelligence committee, who provides all the intelligence updates. Your browser does not support this video General Sir Richard Barrons as Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Richard Barrons as Chief of the Defence Staff The game is slightly unusual because the Russian red team knows beforehand the main moves they will make. Their primary role is to explain the Kremlin's way of thinking and why it might be taking such actions. By contrast, the British blue team has no idea what is about to happen and must do the best they can to defend Britain. A moment of shock? A moment of shock? To inject a further sense of realism into the three rooms, we mock up news reports to cover moments of drama as they unfold. Katie Gunning, a former BBC newsreader, is the voice of our pretend British rolling news channel, while Valeriy Akimenko, an expert on Russian state communications, will help us craft imagined Russian state media bulletins. Image captions"We are calling on our allies internationally to join with the United Kingdom to defend collectively and to fight back."The message is we are not alone and Russia must understand that they cannot bully, intimidate or strike us without serious consequences." Prime Minister Ben Wallace in The Wargame The Wargame comes at a time when national defence and resilience is back in focus. The UK and its European allies are expected to agree to a big hike in defence spending to keep Donald Trump on side when they gather for a NATO summit later this month. Sir Keir Starmer also published a major review of defence last week that said Britain must rebuild its armed forces and get ready for war because the threat of conflict with a nuclear power like Russia or China is real. Sir Keir Starmer on the deck of the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier. Pic: PA Sir Keir Starmer on the deck of the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier. Pic: PA Russia denied posing a danger. Its embassy in London said: "Russia poses no threat to the United Kingdom and its people. "We harbour no aggressive intentions and have no plans to attack Britain. We are not interested in doing so, nor do we need to." Responding to the review's recommendations, the prime minister said the UK will make more submarines, build more weapons factories and buy more missiles. He also pledged to boost the reserve forces, expand a military cadet force and revive wider national resilience. But returning the nation to one that is better prepared for war will be expensive and it will require the whole country to play their part. Whether that happens and how quickly then comes down to choice. The first two episodes of The Wargame are out now. Two more will be released on 17 June and the final episode will be out on 24 June. Click below to follow The Wargame wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app Image captions Deborah Haynes speaks to The Wargame participants Deborah Haynes speaks to The Wargame participants CREDITS Reporting: Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor Production: Katy Scholes, defence and security producer Shorthand production: Michael Drummond, foreign news reporter Editing: Alessandra Rizzo, output editor Design: Rachel McCarthy, Stephen Whistance, Fedele Rinaldi, Arianne Cantwell and Eloise Atter, designers Pictures: Reuters, Associated Press, PA The Wargame podcast: Production: James Shield, series producer, Jess Swinburne, development producer and Katy Scholes Sound design and original music: Tom Kinsella Editing: Paul Stanworth, commissioning editor and Jasper Corbett (Tortoise) Executive producers: Sarah Whitehead and David Mapstone Top Built with Shorthand The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? This content is provided by The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK?, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies for this session only. Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fsky.com.png&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
By Deborah Haynes, Sky News security and defence editor"The Russians are signalling that there may be - let's call it what it is - there may be an attack." Fictional UK Home Secretary The warning from the home secretary at an emergency Cobra meeting is stark. The prime minister must decide what to do after the Kremlin deployed a large task force of warships, fighter jets and submarines to the North Atlantic. Russian ships in the Baltic earlier this year. Credit: AP/Russian Defence Ministry The whole of the United Kingdom is within range of their missiles. Russia and the UK are both nuclear-armed powers. President Vladimir Putin has threatened the UK in the past. Pic: AP President Vladimir Putin has threatened the UK in the past. Pic: AP"The best outcome is this is just a show of force. The worst outcome is this is setting a force in order to attack the UK." Chief of the Defence Staff This is the opening scene of a new five-part podcast series from Sky News and Tortoise called The Wargame. It simulates a Russian attack on the UK. Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app The scenario is described as very low likelihood but high impact. That means a low chance of it happening but catastrophic consequences if it did. Image captions Setting up The Wargame... A year in the making, but recorded in just one day, The Wargame explores the reality of the threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia could pose to Britain, its people and normal, everyday life. Listen to Sky's security and defence editor Deborah Haynes outline how the game works in the video above. Inside The Wargame emergency meeting room. The Wargame also tests the true state of the UK's defences and national resilience after decades of cost-saving cuts since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. And the scenario imagines how the UK's allies might respond, in particular the United States: would they mobilise to defend Britain in a crisis? Everything going on in The Wargame was recorded The scenario is based in the near future and pitches a fictional British government against a team of Russia experts in an imagined Kremlin. Rob Johnson, who heads the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University, agreed to create the game after I approached him about the idea last year. I said I would find the players and turn the project into a podcast. The Wargame is the kind of exercise that is genuinely tested inside government. The main difference, though, is that nothing discussed in Rob's version is classified. It means we are able to make the whole thing public. A year in the making, but recorded in just one day, The Wargame explores the reality of the threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia could pose to Britain, its people and normal, everyday life. The Wargame also tests the true state of the UK's defences and national resilience after decades of cost-saving cuts since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Listen to Sky's security and defence editor Deborah Haynes outline how The Wargame works And the scenario imagines how the UK's allies might respond, in particular the United States: would they mobilise to defend Britain in a crisis? The scenario is based in the near future and pitches a fictional British government against a team of Russia experts in an imagined Kremlin. Rob Johnson, who heads the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University, agreed to create the game after I approached him about the idea last year. Inside The Wargame Cobra room Inside The Wargame Cobra room I said I would find the players and turn the project into a podcast. The Wargame is the kind of exercise that is genuinely tested inside government. The main difference, though, is that nothing discussed in Rob's version is classified. It means we are able to make the whole thing public. Image captions I assembled a cast of former ministers, military and security chiefs and other experts to play the British and Russian governments. No one received any payment for taking part in The Wargame. Former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace, who was at the forefront of Britain's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, plays the PM. Jack Straw, who served under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, steps back into the foreign secretary job. Home secretary under Theresa May, Amber Rudd steps back into her old position. The other members of our Cobra team are: Jim Murphy (Labour), a former secretary of state for Scotland, as chancellor. James Heappey (Conservative), previously the armed forces minister, is the defence secretary. Baroness Helena Kennedy Baroness Helena Kennedy Baroness Helena Kennedy (Labour), a barrister and expert on human rights law, agreed to become the attorney general. Lord Mark Sedwill is the national security adviser, a role he held for real from 2017 to 2020. General Sir Richard Barrons plays the role of Chief of the Defence Staff. He is a former senior commander who was a co-author of a major defence review published last week by the government. General Sir Richard Barrons General Sir Richard Barrons Lieutenant General Sir David Capewell, a former chief of joint operations, reprises his role as the UK's warfighting commander. Victorian Mackarness, a communications expert, plays the role of Downing Street press secretary. Image captions Episode 1 of The Wargame is called 'False Flag'. It begins at 5pm on Sunday 5 October, 2025. Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our fictional PM begins the emergency meeting in the video above. The Wargame's PM Sir Ben Wallace. Ben Wallace, the prime minister, has just called an emergency Cobra meeting after police in Norfolk discover the bodies of two of the Royal Air Force's elite F-35 fighter pilots. They suspect a Russian assassination plot. The attorney general and home secretary look on It comes after a bomb attack devastated a naval base in northern Russia, killing dozens of sailors. The Kremlin says British spies were to blame. London has denied involvement but the Russian side is not listening. Its deployment of a heavily-armed task force to the North Atlantic is an exceptionally aggressive move. The British government must decide what to do next. Episode 1 of The Wargame is called 'False Flag'. It begins at 5pm on Sunday 5 October 2025. Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our fictional PM begins the fictional emergency meeting Ben Wallace, the prime minister, has just called an emergency Cobra meeting after police in Norfolk discover the bodies of two of the Royal Air Force's elite F-35 fighter pilots. They suspect a Russian assassination plot. It comes after a bomb attack devastated a naval base in northern Russia, killing dozens of sailors. The Kremlin says British spies were to blame. London has denied involvement but the Russian side is not listening. Its deployment of a heavily armed taskforce to the North Atlantic is an exceptionally aggressive move. The British government must decide what to do next. Image captions You might wonder why two news organisations chose to run a wargame. Let me explain. When the Cold War ended, successive governments decided to switch funding away from defence and into peacetime priorities such as health, welfare and economic growth. It was seen as a "peace dividend" following the collapse of the Soviet Union, with politicians and the public gambling on a belief that the threat of war on the homefront was over. The UK is a founding member of NATO. Pic: AP The UK is a founding member of NATO. Pic: AP If things did go wrong, the thinking went, the United States, with its vast and powerful armed forces, would still have our back as part of the NATO alliance. Like most people of my generation - I am 48 - I have a fuzzy memory of the Cold War. But for my entire adult life, people living in Britain have not generally needed to worry about an existential conflict destroying their everyday lives, so public awareness about what that would mean in reality has unsurprisingly lapsed. Russian soldiers ride a T-90M Proryv tank. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry Russian soldiers ride a T-90M Proryv tank. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry By contrast, the credible sense of imminent peril is what enabled heavy investment on defence and deterrence to continue long after the guns in the Second World War fell silent. As an insurance policy, it felt like a bargain compared with the devastating cost of total war. Experts say Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 should have been the wake-up call for the UK and Europe to take defence and national resilience seriously once more. Russian soldiers operate a drone in Ukraine. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry Russian soldiers operate a drone in Ukraine. Pic: AP/Russian Defence Ministry But because this country still feels pretty safe, it's perhaps hard to understand why or even whether it matters. It made me wonder, what if we simulate an emergency and find out how the UK might respond? Whatever the outcome, it would at least bring back to life the reality of the threat. Image captions The home secretary has a question."Do you have any view, prime minister, or perhaps the foreign secretary will, about what the Russians are after? What are they trying to achieve? Is it anything in particular or is it retaliation for an event that took place that we weren't in fact responsible for, but they want to show a response to?" Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which our national security adviser discusses the challenges posed by Russia in the video above. James Heappey playing defence secretary The prime minister replies: "Well, one of the challenges is Russia has a long track record of false flag for the purpose of its own agenda." A false flag can mean an action - like a bombing or an assassination - that is done by one side but blamed on the other to create a fake pretext to attack them. Attribution is also hard, making it difficult for the accused to prove their innocence. The prime minister wants to mobilise the military to do what it can to deter the threat. His military chief recommends deploying the few warships and jets that are available. The defence secretary has two concerns."We will not be able to deploy that amount of force in secret," he says."Secondly, it won't escape the notice of many in the commentariat that what we do deploy is still overmatched by what the Russians have deployed." The home secretary has a question."Do you have any view, prime minister, or perhaps the foreign secretary will, about what the Russians are after? What are they trying to achieve? Is it anything in particular or is it retaliation for an event that took place that we weren't in fact responsible for, but they want to show a response to?" Listen to a clip from The Wargame podcast in which Lord Mark Sedwill discusses the challenges posed by Russia The prime minister replies: "Well, one of the challenges is Russia has a long track record of false flag for the purpose of its own agenda." A false flag can mean an action - like a bombing or an assassination - that is done by one side but blamed on the other to create a fake pretext to attack them. Attribution is also hard, making it difficult for the accused to prove their innocence. James Heappey playing Defence Secretary James Heappey playing Defence Secretary The prime minister wants to mobilise the military to do what it can to deter the threat. His military chief recommends deploying the few warships and jets that are available. The defence secretary has two concerns."We will not be able to deploy that amount of force in secret," he says. "Secondly, it won't escape the notice of many in the commentariat that what we do deploy is still overmatched by what the Russians have deployed." Image captions Rob Johnson explains how his scenario was created."I had to go away and do a bit of research," he says. "What was it like in the Cold War? What capabilities did we have? What were the emergency procedures? What did they look like?""Then I looked at how we could create that sensation inside a room. So we chose a bunker. We also mocked up some documents," he says."We've created some maps… We've got a Russia team.. We had to ask them: what would Russia do?" Our imagined Kremlin is led by Keir Giles, an author and Russia expert, who - like the rest of his team - has long experience of playing the "red team" in wargames. Keir Giles led the fictional Kremlin team Keir Giles led the fictional Kremlin team"Ordinarily when this red team gets together… we run rings around the opposition." This is "partly because Russia has the initiative, partly because Russia has the tools [and] partly because Russia has the will and the determination to cause damage sometimes in ways that the opposition… doesn't imagine before the game actually starts". Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app Image captions Deciding where to run the game was key. We wanted to simulate the government's emergency Cobra meeting, chaired by our fictional prime minister and held in a bunker. We also needed a second room to be a pretend Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) for the military. Finally, we had to create a Kremlin, where our Russian president would assemble with this team. Tortoise Media agreed to turn the basement of their building into the set of The Wargame. Concern from Home Secretary Amber Rudd Concern from Home Secretary Amber Rudd It has a web of corridors that connect to multiple rooms, making the site an ideal venue. The largest underground room was used for the Cobra (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) crisis meetings, with ministers and top officials positioned around a long table. A bank of screens lines the wall at one end of the room. Maps can be displayed on the screens. Your browser does not support this video The foreign secretary and national security advisor in The Wargame The foreign secretary and national security advisor in The Wargame Crucially, they also provide a video link for the Cobra team to request a call with an imagined US secretary of state as well as the head of the NATO alliance whenever they choose. James Shield, a producer at Tortoise, asked Professor Phillips O'Brien, the head of international studies at the University of St Andrews, to be our top American diplomat. Elisabeth Braw, a leading expert on security and defence, plays the NATO chief. The Wargame's NATO Secretary-General, Elisabeth Braw The Wargame's NATO Secretary-General, Elisabeth Braw Across a narrow corridor from the Cobra meeting area is a smaller room, which we pretend is the military headquarters. This is where our chief of joint operations and a team of six advisers, with expertise in defence, security and national resilience, assemble. At the other end of the basement, along a corridor and through two doors, in another fairly large room, we establish the Russia side. Image captions As the person running the show, Rob is the games master, leading what is known as the white cell. He has several helpers who must provide new pieces of information to different players as the game progresses - these are known as "injects". Rob also sits in the main Cobra meeting, taking on the role of chair of the joint intelligence committee, who provides all the intelligence updates. Your browser does not support this video General Sir Richard Barrons as Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir Richard Barrons as Chief of the Defence Staff The game is slightly unusual because the Russian red team knows beforehand the main moves they will make. Their primary role is to explain the Kremlin's way of thinking and why it might be taking such actions. By contrast, the British blue team has no idea what is about to happen and must do the best they can to defend Britain. A moment of shock? A moment of shock? To inject a further sense of realism into the three rooms, we mock up news reports to cover moments of drama as they unfold. Katie Gunning, a former BBC newsreader, is the voice of our pretend British rolling news channel, while Valeriy Akimenko, an expert on Russian state communications, will help us craft imagined Russian state media bulletins. Image captions"We are calling on our allies internationally to join with the United Kingdom to defend collectively and to fight back."The message is we are not alone and Russia must understand that they cannot bully, intimidate or strike us without serious consequences." Prime Minister Ben Wallace in The Wargame The Wargame comes at a time when national defence and resilience is back in focus. The UK and its European allies are expected to agree to a big hike in defence spending to keep Donald Trump on side when they gather for a NATO summit later this month. Sir Keir Starmer also published a major review of defence last week that said Britain must rebuild its armed forces and get ready for war because the threat of conflict with a nuclear power like Russia or China is real. Sir Keir Starmer on the deck of the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier. Pic: PA Sir Keir Starmer on the deck of the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier. Pic: PA Russia denied posing a danger. Its embassy in London said: "Russia poses no threat to the United Kingdom and its people. "We harbour no aggressive intentions and have no plans to attack Britain. We are not interested in doing so, nor do we need to." Responding to the review's recommendations, the prime minister said the UK will make more submarines, build more weapons factories and buy more missiles. He also pledged to boost the reserve forces, expand a military cadet force and revive wider national resilience. But returning the nation to one that is better prepared for war will be expensive and it will require the whole country to play their part. Whether that happens and how quickly then comes down to choice. The first two episodes of The Wargame are out now. Two more will be released on 17 June and the final episode will be out on 24 June. Click below to follow The Wargame wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app Image captions Deborah Haynes speaks to The Wargame participants Deborah Haynes speaks to The Wargame participants CREDITS Reporting: Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor Production: Katy Scholes, defence and security producer Shorthand production: Michael Drummond, foreign news reporter Editing: Alessandra Rizzo, output editor Design: Rachel McCarthy, Stephen Whistance, Fedele Rinaldi, Arianne Cantwell and Eloise Atter, designers Pictures: Reuters, Associated Press, PA The Wargame podcast: Production: James Shield, series producer, Jess Swinburne, development producer and Katy Scholes Sound design and original music: Tom Kinsella Editing: Paul Stanworth, commissioning editor and Jasper Corbett (Tortoise) Executive producers: Sarah Whitehead and David Mapstone Top Built with Shorthand The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? This content is provided by The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK?, which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow The Wargame podcast: What if Russia attacked the UK? cookies for this session only. Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once
By Deborah Haynes, Sky News security and defence editor "The Russians are signalling that there may be - let's call it what it is - there may be an attack." Fictional UK Home Secretary The warning from the home secretary at an emergency Cobra meeting is stark. The prime minister must decide what to do after the Kremlin deployed a large task force of warships, fighter jets and submarines to the North Atlantic. The whole of the United Kingdom is within range of their missiles. Russia and the UK are both nuclear-armed powers. "The best outcome is this is just a show of force. The worst outcome is this is setting a force in order to attack the UK." Chief of the Defence Staff This is the opening scene of a new five-part podcast series from Sky News and Tortoise called The Wargame. It simulates a Russian attack on the UK. Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app The scenario is described as very low likelihood but high impact. That means a low chance of it happening but catastrophic consequences if it did. A year in the making, but recorded in just one day, The Wargame explores the reality of the threat that Vladimir Putin's Russia could pose to Britain, its people and normal, everyday life. The Wargame also tests the true state of the UK's defences and national resilience after decades of cost-saving cuts since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. And the scenario imagines how the UK's allies might respond, in particular the United States: would they mobilise to defend Britain in a crisis? The scenario is based in the near future and pitches a fictional British government against a team of Russia experts in an imagined Kremlin. Rob Johnson, who heads the Changing Character of War Centre at Oxford University, agreed to create the game after I approached him about the idea last year. I said I would find the players and turn the project into a podcast. The Wargame is the kind of exercise that is genuinely tested inside government. The main difference, though, is that nothing discussed in Rob's version is classified. It means we are able to make the whole thing public. I assembled a cast of former ministers, military and security chiefs and other experts to play the British and Russian governments. No one received any payment for taking part in The Wargame. Former Conservative defence secretary Sir Ben Wallace, who was at the forefront of Britain's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, plays the PM. Jack Straw, who served under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, steps back into the foreign secretary job. Home secretary under Theresa May, Amber Rudd steps back into her old position. The other members of our Cobra team are: Jim Murphy (Labour), a former secretary of state for Scotland, as chancellor. James Heappey (Conservative), previously the armed forces minister, is the defence secretary. Baroness Helena Kennedy (Labour), a barrister and expert on human rights law, agreed to become the attorney general. Lord Mark Sedwill is the national security adviser, a role he held for real from 2017 to 2020. General Sir Richard Barrons plays the role of Chief of the Defence Staff. He is a former senior commander who was a co-author of a major defence review published last week by the government. Lieutenant General Sir David Capewell, a former chief of joint operations, reprises his role as the UK's warfighting commander. Victorian Mackarness, a communications expert, plays the role of Downing Street press secretary. Episode 1 of The Wargame is called 'False Flag'. It begins at 5pm on Sunday 5 October 2025. Ben Wallace, the prime minister, has just called an emergency Cobra meeting after police in Norfolk discover the bodies of two of the Royal Air Force's elite F-35 fighter pilots. They suspect a Russian assassination plot. It comes after a bomb attack devastated a naval base in northern Russia, killing dozens of sailors. The Kremlin says British spies were to blame. London has denied involvement but the Russian side is not listening. Its deployment of a heavily armed taskforce to the North Atlantic is an exceptionally aggressive move. The British government must decide what to do next. You might wonder why two news organisations chose to run a wargame. Let me explain. When the Cold War ended, successive governments decided to switch funding away from defence and into peacetime priorities such as health, welfare and economic growth. It was seen as a "peace dividend" following the collapse of the Soviet Union, with politicians and the public gambling on a belief that the threat of war on the homefront was over. If things did go wrong, the thinking went, the United States, with its vast and powerful armed forces, would still have our back as part of the NATO alliance. Like most people of my generation - I am 48 - I have a fuzzy memory of the Cold War. But for my entire adult life, people living in Britain have not generally needed to worry about an existential conflict destroying their everyday lives, so public awareness about what that would mean in reality has unsurprisingly lapsed. By contrast, the credible sense of imminent peril is what enabled heavy investment on defence and deterrence to continue long after the guns in the Second World War fell silent. As an insurance policy, it felt like a bargain compared with the devastating cost of total war. Experts say Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 should have been the wake-up call for the UK and Europe to take defence and national resilience seriously once more. But because this country still feels pretty safe, it's perhaps hard to understand why or even whether it matters. It made me wonder, what if we simulate an emergency and find out how the UK might respond? Whatever the outcome, it would at least bring back to life the reality of the threat. The home secretary has a question. "Do you have any view, prime minister, or perhaps the foreign secretary will, about what the Russians are after? What are they trying to achieve? Is it anything in particular or is it retaliation for an event that took place that we weren't in fact responsible for, but they want to show a response to?" The prime minister replies: "Well, one of the challenges is Russia has a long track record of false flag for the purpose of its own agenda." A false flag can mean an action - like a bombing or an assassination - that is done by one side but blamed on the other to create a fake pretext to attack them. Attribution is also hard, making it difficult for the accused to prove their innocence. The prime minister wants to mobilise the military to do what it can to deter the threat. His military chief recommends deploying the few warships and jets that are available. The defence secretary has two concerns. "We will not be able to deploy that amount of force in secret," he says. "Secondly, it won't escape the notice of many in the commentariat that what we do deploy is still overmatched by what the Russians have deployed." Rob Johnson explains how his scenario was created. "I had to go away and do a bit of research," he says. "What was it like in the Cold War? What capabilities did we have? What were the emergency procedures? What did they look like?" "Then I looked at how we could create that sensation inside a room. So we chose a bunker. We also mocked up some documents," he says. "We've created some maps… We've got a Russia team.. We had to ask them: what would Russia do?" Our imagined Kremlin is led by Keir Giles, an author and Russia expert, who - like the rest of his team - has long experience of playing the "red team" in wargames. "Ordinarily when this red team gets together… we run rings around the opposition." This is "partly because Russia has the initiative, partly because Russia has the tools [and] partly because Russia has the will and the determination to cause damage sometimes in ways that the opposition… doesn't imagine before the game actually starts". Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app Deciding where to run the game was key. We wanted to simulate the government's emergency Cobra meeting, chaired by our fictional prime minister and held in a bunker. We also needed a second room to be a pretend Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ) for the military. Finally, we had to create a Kremlin, where our Russian president would assemble with this team. Tortoise Media agreed to turn the basement of their building into the set of The Wargame. It has a web of corridors that connect to multiple rooms, making the site an ideal venue. The largest underground room was used for the Cobra (Cabinet Office Briefing Room) crisis meetings, with ministers and top officials positioned around a long table. A bank of screens lines the wall at one end of the room. Maps can be displayed on the screens. Crucially, they also provide a video link for the Cobra team to request a call with an imagined US secretary of state as well as the head of the NATO alliance whenever they choose. James Shield, a producer at Tortoise, asked Professor Phillips O'Brien, the head of international studies at the University of St Andrews, to be our top American diplomat. Elisabeth Braw, a leading expert on security and defence, plays the NATO chief. Across a narrow corridor from the Cobra meeting area is a smaller room, which we pretend is the military headquarters. This is where our chief of joint operations and a team of six advisers, with expertise in defence, security and national resilience, assemble. At the other end of the basement, along a corridor and through two doors, in another fairly large room, we establish the Russia side. As the person running the show, Rob is the games master, leading what is known as the white cell. He has several helpers who must provide new pieces of information to different players as the game progresses - these are known as "injects". Rob also sits in the main Cobra meeting, taking on the role of chair of the joint intelligence committee, who provides all the intelligence updates. The game is slightly unusual because the Russian red team knows beforehand the main moves they will make. Their primary role is to explain the Kremlin's way of thinking and why it might be taking such actions. By contrast, the British blue team has no idea what is about to happen and must do the best they can to defend Britain. To inject a further sense of realism into the three rooms, we mock up news reports to cover moments of drama as they unfold. Katie Gunning, a former BBC newsreader, is the voice of our pretend British rolling news channel, while Valeriy Akimenko, an expert on Russian state communications, will help us craft imagined Russian state media bulletins. "We are calling on our allies internationally to join with the United Kingdom to defend collectively and to fight back. "The message is we are not alone and Russia must understand that they cannot bully, intimidate or strike us without serious consequences." Prime Minister Ben Wallace in The Wargame The Wargame comes at a time when national defence and resilience is back in focus. The UK and its European allies are expected to agree to a big hike in defence spending to keep Donald Trump on side when they gather for a NATO summit later this month. Sir Keir Starmer also published a major review of defence last week that said Britain must rebuild its armed forces and get ready for war because the threat of conflict with a nuclear power like Russia or China is real. Russia denied posing a danger. Its embassy in London said: "Russia poses no threat to the United Kingdom and its people. "We harbour no aggressive intentions and have no plans to attack Britain. We are not interested in doing so, nor do we need to." Responding to the review's recommendations, the prime minister said the UK will make more submarines, build more weapons factories and buy more missiles. He also pledged to boost the reserve forces, expand a military cadet force and revive wider national resilience. But returning the nation to one that is better prepared for war will be expensive and it will require the whole country to play their part. Whether that happens and how quickly then comes down to choice. The first two episodes of The Wargame are out now. Two more will be released on 17 June and the final episode will be out on 24 June. Click below to follow The Wargame wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to The Wargame on your podcast app CREDITS Reporting: Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor Production: Katy Scholes, defence and security producer Shorthand production: Michael Drummond, foreign news reporter Editing: Alessandra Rizzo, output editor Design: Rachel McCarthy, Stephen Whistance, Fedele Rinaldi, Arianne Cantwell and Eloise Atter, designers Pictures: Reuters, Associated Press, PA The Wargame podcast: Production: James Shield, series producer, Jess Swinburne, development producer and Katy Scholes Sound design and original music: Tom Kinsella Editing: Paul Stanworth, commissioning editor and Jasper Corbett (Tortoise) Executive producers: Sarah Whitehead and David Mapstone Top Built with Shorthand
Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Putin could attack NATO by 2030 as ‘Europe needs Golden Dome defence system'
NATO secretary general Mark Rutte warned Europe needed to commit to a "quantum leap" amid fears that Vladimir Putin could launch an attack against the defensive alliance Maniac Russian despot Vladimir Putin could launch an attack against NATO by 2030 prompting a call for Europe to "build its own Golden Dome" defence system. NATO secretary general Mark Rutte on Monday urged Europe to drastically ramp up its spending on missile defence systems while Russia remains engaged in Ukraine. The fresh appeal for united military might comes after US President Donald Trump unveiled an ambitious Golden Dome plan that would set taxpayers back more than half a trillion dollars, about a quarter of money spent by the US throughout the duration of the two-decade long operation in Iraq. Mr Rutte said the Europe would need a "quantum leap" in building its defence systems with a warning that Putin is "speeding up, not slowing down" his militaristic ambitions. Mr Rutte said Europe needed to be prepared to protect the continent from any attacks from Russia. He added: "The fact is, we need a quantum leap in our collective defence. "The fact is, we must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defence plans in full. The fact is, danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends." He called for militaries to stock up with thousands of additional tanks and vehicles as well as building an arsenal of millions of artillery shells. He also hinted at a possible nightmare scenario where Putin manages to pull together allies in China, North Korea and Iran. The NATO chief added Russia is capable of producing in three months what the whole of the organisation takes a year to do. According to The Sun, he said: "Wishful thinking will not keep us safe. "We cannot dream away the danger. Hope is not a strategy. So NATO has to become a stronger, fairer and more lethal alliance." Mr Rutte now wants NATO members to commit to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2032 as well as an additional 1.5 per cent on broader security-related expenditure. It comes as NATO chiefs aim to keep Mr Trump content with allies after he demanded each commit to 5 per cent spending, far above the previous 2 per cent of GDP. He added NATO members are expected to agree to the proposal when leaders from the 32 countries attend a meeting at The Hague between June 24 and 25. He said: "It will be a NATO-wide commitment and a defining moment for the alliance" US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth last week said allies were close to reaching an agreement about reaching the 5 per cent target. He said on Thursday, adding: "That combination constitutes a real commitment, and we think every country can step up." The return of Mr Trump to the White House sent shockwaves through Europe with some nations raising concerns the US was no longer a steadfast ally. Mr Rutte added: "Danger will not disappear even when the war in Ukraine ends. We must have more forces and capabilities to implement our defence plans in full."
Scottish Sun
4 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Russia using horror AI kamikaze drone that ‘chooses its own target' as Ukraine now faces blitz of over ‘500 every night'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) VLADIMIR Putin has begun deploying kamikaze drones that select their own targets using AI in a fresh assault on Ukraine. The country now faces over 500 attacks every night, just days after Kharkiv was rocked overnight by a downpour of missiles. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Fire and smoke rise in Ukraine following a Russian drone and missile strike Credit: Reuters 5 Kyiv is seen engulfed in flames following a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters 5 Reports said the UAV-V2U is being used to close in on the northeastern city of Sumy, while Putin ramps up drone production and builds new launch sites. Some 70 units a day are now being made compared to just 21 last year, according to Ukraine's military intelligence. This is largely thanks to help from China, the agency has said, as the UAV is "mostly assembled from Chinese-manufactured components." Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying drones or weapon components to Russia, whilst Trump and Biden have both hit China with sanctions to stop it getting access to computer chips. Marking a new escalation in the war, the drones use camera images to navigate and AI to independently locate targets. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said: "The key feature of the drone is its ability to autonomously search for and select targets using artificial intelligence. "Its computing system is based on the Chinese Leetop A203 minicomputer, with a high-speed processor assembly built on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin module." This comes just hours after drones and missiles were launched at Kyiv as Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers were reportedly unleashed to rain hell on the infamous Snake Island in the Black Sea. Moscow launched a massive strike on Rivne using its Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers to hit Dubny airbase. Squadrons of these fighter jets were targeted and destroyed last week in Kyiv's daring Operation Spiderweb. Russia bombs Kyiv killing 4 in blitz as Putin plots revenge for Op Spiderweb Another key Ukrainian military airport - Hostomel - was also attacked as Putin sought revenge for the humiliating attack. Polish armed forces command said Nato fighter jets were patrolling due to 'intensive air attack by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory'. Just days ago, Kharkiv was rocked overnight as 48 kamikaze drones, along with missiles and guided bombs, slammed into residential areas, according to the city's mayor. 'We have a lot of damage,' Ihor Terekhov said. More than 50 explosions rocked Kharkiv, with the mayor adding it was 'the most powerful attack' on the city of the 39-month war. In the latest terror strikes on civilians, 18 multi-story buildings and 13 private houses were hit and damaged. In Kyiv, a dramatic tower block video filmed by a resident showed the terror of another Putin strike on civilians as flames from the exploding drone shot some 80ft up the building. Three were killed and at least 21 wounded, including a six-weeks-old baby, and a 14-year-old girl. A woman, 26, trapped under a slab of concrete was eventually freed three hours after the strike, and was seen being stretchered to an ambulance. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described how hundreds of drones and missiles "rained down" on his country overnight. He wrote in a social media post: "Kharkiv had a particularly terrible night. "People were injured and killed, and the energy infrastructure was also damaged." Sybiha added there were further strikes in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil and Odesa regions. 5 The Kursk region after being struck by a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters
