Ukraine on alert for further attacks as former Nato commander urges West to prepare for war

Putin could lash out at Europe, says former general, as Kremlin air campaign continues

Kyiv was on alert for further Russian air strikes on Tuesday, as air raid sirens sounded a day after missile attacks across Ukraine left 19 people dead and more than 100 injured.

Attacks continued on Tuesday with Lviv in western Ukraine hit, leaving parts of the city without electricity. There was also an attack on a thermal power plant as Russian strikes seemed to target key infrastructure targets.

Early morning strikes on Tuesday killed at least one person in Zaporizhzhia.

Volodymyr Zelensky was set to use an appearance before an emergency digital meeting of G7 leaders to ask allies to urgently supply Ukraine with air defence weapons to protect against an increasingly aggressive Moscow that is killing civilians as it targets infrastructure in busy cities.

A Kremlin official said direct conflict with the United States and Nato was not in Russia’s interests but the West’s growing involvement in the Ukrainian conflict demands a response from Moscow.

“We warn and hope that they realise the danger of uncontrolled escalation in Washington and other Western capitals,” deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted as saying in state-owned news agency RIA.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met the UAE leader Mohammed bin Zayed al Nayhan in Moscow,

Meanwhile, a former Nato commander urged the alliance to prepare for the war in Ukraine to spread further into Europe.

Richard Shirreff, Nato’s former deputy supreme allied commander Europe, said allies need to recognise that though Russia’s invasion seems doomed to fail, Vladimir Putin – who will face increasing pressure at home if Ukraine reclaims more of its territory – could lash out and potentially draw European nations into conflict.

“The chilling factor here is the nuclear one and some form of nuclear escalation,” he said in an appearance at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

The former British general urged Nato to “readjust its mindset totally” and focus on rearming European nations to deter any potential threat.

“What we have not seen is Nato recognising that it has got to be prepared for the worst case and the worst case is war with Russia. And the only way to prevent the worst case is to be ready for it and Nato is a long way short of that,” he said.

A man stands among the damaged cars and debris left by a Russian strike on Kyiv (Getty)

Military analysts said Russia’s recent attacks, ordered by Mr Putin as revenge for the bombing of the Kerch Bridge, could put the Kremlin at a strategic disadvantage in its attempts to hold on to territory in the south and east of Ukraine.

The strikes “wasted some of Russia’s dwindling precision weapons” and may deprive Mr Putin of options to counter Ukrainian advances in Kherson and Luhansk, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Meanwhile, Moscow ally Belarus said it would was beginning a military inspection to ensure “combat readiness” after President Alexander Lukashenko ordered troops to the Ukrainian border to counter what he claimed was a growing threat from Kyiv.