Vladimir Putin Is Attacking The UK Every Day, Defence Secretary Warns
Vladimir Putin is attacking the UK on a daily basis, a senior cabinet minister has warned.
Defence secretary John Healey said Britain is now operating in 'a world of growing Russian aggression' and must respond accordingly.
His comments came as the government prepares to publish the Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which will set out plans to boost military spending in the years ahead.
He said it would 'send a message to Moscow' that the UK has the capability to defend itself from Putin.
On BBC1 this morning, Healey was asked by Laura Kuenssberg: 'Do you actually expect that Russia is going to attack the UK?'
The defence secretary replied: 'Russia is attacking the UK daily as part of 90,000 attacks that we get that are linked to different states on our defence system in cyberspace.
'It's one of the reasons that we're acting already by putting an extra billion into creating a new cyber command and to link our Armed Forces with the digital connections that make them more effective in the future.
'We're in a word that is changing now and we've got to respond. It is a world of growing Russian aggression, it's those daily cyber attacks, new nuclear risks and increasing threats in other parts of the world as well.
'The SDR we publish tomorrow will set out a vision for not only how our forces must respond, but how we protect the British people as well.'
"Russia is attacking the UK daily"Defence Secretary John Healey says the UK faces thousands of cybersecurity attacks and that there is "growing Russian aggression" in today's world#BBCLauraKhttps://t.co/oRwpvoeA5opic.twitter.com/fqLc5uWHwd
— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) June 1, 2025
The government will build at least six new munitions factories and thousands more long-range weapons as part of the defence review.
Healey said: 'The hard-fought lessons from Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine show a military is only as strong as the industry that stands behind them.
'We are strengthening the UK's industrial base to better deter our adversaries and make the UK secure at home and strong abroad.'
He told the BBC: 'This is a message to Moscow as well. This is Britain standing behind making our Armed Forces stronger but making our industrial base stronger, and this is part of our readiness to fight if required, but the strength in which to deter those fights in the future.'
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