A NATO military chief has warned that Brits need to prepare for an all-out war with Russia and be ready to join the battle.
Fears of a third world war are mounting and military experts fear that Britain will have no choice but to put boots on the ground.
Admiral Rob Bauer - chair of the Nato military committee - warned this week that civilians need to be ready for a conflict that will change their lives.
As the globe faces its "most dangerous and volatile moment" in history, large numbers of private citizens will need to be mobilised.
During a crunch summit between Nato defence chiefs in Brussels, Bauer said: "We need to be readier across the whole spectrum.
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"You have to have a system in place to find more people if it comes to war, whether it does or not.
"Then you talk mobilisation, reservists or conscription.
"We have to realise it’s not a given that we are in peace.
"And that’s why we [Nato forces] are preparing for a conflict with Russia."
Dutch naval officer Bauer's comments come ahead of Nato's biggest War Games exercise since the end of the Cold War.
The February operation, "Steadfast Defender", is set to start next week with 90,000 soldiers flocking to Eastern Europe to prepare for a Russian attack.
It includes around 20,000 British troops with tanks, artillery, fighter jets, and helicopters.
The Royal Navy will also send 2,000 sailors across eight warships, two new aircraft carriers and submarines, while 400 Royal Marines will be dispatched to the Arctic Circle.
The RAF's F-35 lightning attack aircraft will also be tested with conflict scenarios.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps announced the deployment of all three Armed Forces to the 31-nation drill on Monday.
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Bauer praised Sweden after Stockholm asked its private civilians to brace for war - leading to a spike in military volunteers.
Sweden - a Nato member hopeful - will be taking part in the war games drills next week alongside all 31 member states.
Nato officials are concerned about other member states falling behind in preparing on the home front for a war.
Europe's war chest stock has fallen in the last two years as governments funnelled resources into Ukraine.
And Russia is tripling its defence spending this year by more than a third.
General Sir Richard Barrons, former Joint Forces chief, told The Sun that Nato "cannot afford to drop the ball" on preparing for war.
"When the shooting in Ukraine stops, almost whatever the outcome, Russia will have larger and probably better Armed Forces than it had in February 2022".
And he warned that Putin is looking at producing "about 2 million artillery rounds a year by the end of 2024" as Western European stocks dwindle.
Ex-British tank commander Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon also warned: "[Russia] is churning out all this ammunition, whereas Nato and the West are trying to restore our ammunition stocks back to a reasonable level.
"If we're going to have to fight the Russians we'll need a hell of a lot more. We need to have a really strong and capable defence."
Bauer echoed concerns from across the Nato military alliance that arms manufacturing in member states is not keeping up with the current threat.
He said: "You need to be able to fall back on an industrial base that is able to produce weapons and ammunition fast enough to be able to continue a conflict if you are in it.
"But the discussion is much wider. It is also the industrial base and also the people that have to understand they play a role.
“It starts there... not everything is planable and not everything is going to be hunky dory in the next 20 years.”
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently announced another £2.5billion in aid for Ukraine - helping to fund long range missiles, ammunition and an air defence system.
It comes after a leaked military report revealed what could be Vladimir Putin's step-by-step plan to bring the West to the brink of World War 3.
And it's feared Russia, China, the Middle East, Iran and North Korea could all serve as major flashpoints for an all-out world war alongside Putin's brutal aggression in Ukraine.
