West will have to defeat ENTIRE Axis of Evil if they want to end Putin's reign of terror, warns top US ex-general

The Irish Sun

8 hours ago

WESTERN nations must change their attitude to Russia and crush the war machine fuelling Vladimir Putin's aggression, an ex-army commander warns.
Rogue states such as
army
, US General Ben Hodges told The Sun.
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Vladimir Putin is propped up by his allies
Credit: Reuters
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Russia continues to threaten the West
Credit: AFP
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Putin shaking hands with North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-un
Credit: AP
Now retired, he told The Sun: "If you want to defeat somebody, you have to knock out whatever it is that keeps the other side in the fight."
He warned that if the West fails to take the threat from bloodthirsty Vlad more seriously, Europe will be dealing with war "forever".
Russia has continued to rain down misery on Ukraine for more than three years - raising questions over how
Moscow
hasn't depleted its ammunition stocks.
It comes as Putin is hammering Ukraine with almost 1,000 kamikaze drones a missiles each day - overwhelming defence systems.
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Dozens of innocents are being injured or killed as apartment buildings are mercilessly bombed and civilians terrorised.
Putin ordered his troops over the border in February 2022 and the US military estimated that, without help,
Moscow
would have run out of firepower by that December.
North Korea is widely believed to have supplied
Russia
with missiles and shells, while
Iran
has bolstered Putin's stockpile with
drones
and rockets.
China - Moscow's biggest and richest ally - is suspected of equipping Vlad with "dual-use" components, which are used to make weapons.
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Hodges, who was in charge of American forces in
Europe
, has urged the West to go after ???????????
He also believes Putin focuses on civilian areas instead of military targets because "the great Russian
army
and the great Russian air force and the great Russian navy are not so great".
Bloodthirsty Putin hits Ukraine with almost 1,000 missiles a DAY as he faces his biggest dilemma yet
"I mean they have demonstrated after 11 years they cannot defeat
Ukraine
," Hodges added.
"The only thing they can do is murder innocent people. So that's what they're doing.
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"Hundreds of
drones
and missiles and rockets every week, which they get from
Iran
,
North Korea
and
China
, because they can't even produce all that they need anymore.
"So I think we know from
history
that going after the population almost never works.
"It didn't work in the Second World War, it didn't work for us against the Vietnamese, it didn't work for us against the Taliban."
Putin arrogantly assumed he could sweep in and seize
Kyiv
in a matter of days after ordering his troops over the border into Ukraine.
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But more than three years on, the red-faced despot has suffered huge losses on the
battlefield
.
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Xi Jinpping attended the Victory Day parade in Moscow
Credit: EPA
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Putin shakes hands with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi
Credit: EPA
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Smoke and fire rise during a Russian strike on Kyiv
Credit: Reuters
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More than 10,000 tanks, 22,000 armoured vehicles, 26,000 artillery systems, and over 700 aircraft have been destroyed, officials estimate.
And the
casualty
numbers are far grimmer.
Western officials have revealed that the Russians have sustained more than 900,000 casualties, with 250,000 dead, since Putin unleashed his illegal war.
Despite this, the megalomaniac has pushed forward - continuing to throw wave after wave of troops into the meatgrinder.
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Putin has found his stocks of weapons backfilled by his allies - such as receiving drones from Iran.
And meanwhile, Kim has sent tens of thousands of troops to
Russia
to serve alongside Vlad's men.
A small number of Chinese troops have also allegedly been found serving in
Ukraine
.
But
Beijing
has strongly denied accusations from
Ukraine
that they supplying Putin with weapons.
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Russia
now is planning to try and unleash 1,000 drones per day on
Ukraine
as the war marches on - much to the fury of the US.
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Hodges warned Western nations must instead focus on eliminating the threat from Axis of Evil countries - ultimately diminishing Putin's capabilities.
The former military chief said it could see
Europe
grappling with endless bloodshed if not.
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He said: "Europe should be more serious and try to crush them, crush that regime, use all of our economic tools and also help Ukraine be successful to defeat
Russia
.
"The only way Russia ever changes is after defeat. And if they're not defeated, then after Putin will be another Putin.
"So we're going to be dealing with this forever unless we get serious about defending everything that we say is important.
"And we should quit being so scared of what the Russians might do. The Russians should be worrying what the hell we're going to do."
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Axis of Evil 'supplying Russia with weapons'
Iran
Iran last year transferred close-range ballistic missiles to Russia in a move condemned by the UK's government and allies.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: "Iran supplying Russia with ballistic missiles to fuel its illegal invasion of Ukraine is a significant and dangerous escalation."
Initial claims of Iranian weapons being sent to Russia emerged in late 2022.
US military intelligence at the time indicated Tehran was preparing to supply Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar rockets to Moscow.
Russia's defence minister Sergei Shoigu visited Iran in September 2023 - and reviewed Tehran's missile arsenal during the trip.
North Korea
Kim Jong-un vowed to "support" Putin's "sacred fight" to defend Russia's security interests when the North Korean tyrant visited Moscow in 2023
He vowed the two countries would "be together in the fight against imperialism".
North Korea has been accused of supplying missiles and shells to Moscow.
In April, Volodymyr Zelensky said a missile that killed 12 people in Kyiv had been manufactured in North Korea.
The US has imposed sanctions on several entities accused of being linked to arms deals between the two states.
Pyongyang has previously denied having any "arms dealings" with Russia.
China
China has been accused of supplying crucial materials and equipment to at least 20 Russian military factories.
Oleh Ivashchenko, head of Kyiv's foreign intelligence service, said in April: "There is information that China supplies tooling machines, special chemical products, gunpowder, and components specifically to defence manufacturing industries.
"We have confirmed data on 20 Russian factories."
Nato leaders jointly accused Beijing of being a "critical enabler" of Russia by providing "massive support to its defence industry".
They claimed China sends "dual-use" components to Moscow such as computer chips that can be used to make weapons.
Beijing has denied supplying Russia.
Hodges predicts Putin, 72, will stay at the helm of the
Kremlin
for at least another decade - only taking into account his
health
.
But at some point, the oligarchs around him - who lost enormous fortunes through war sanctions - could
snap
and force him out, Hodges said.
He said: "From a
health
standpoint, Putin's around for another ten years.
"Usually dictators don't have a retirement plan because there are so many people that want to kill them. So that's why they stay in
power
until the very end.
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"So I think we should assume he's going to be there, if it's just
health
, for at least another ten years.
"But if enough people finally got mad about how he was ruining Russia's economic standing, that would be different."
Putin 'plotting attack on Europe'
by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter (Digital)
VLADIMIR Putin could be plotting to exploit the crisis in the Middle East to launch an attack on Europe, a Ukrainian government insider has warned.
The cunning tyrant may even attempt to mimic Ukraine's elaborate Spiderweb operation that blitzed strategic targets inside Russia.
A Ukrainian source told The Sun: "The West should be prepared that the Spiderweb operation may be reconfigured and deployed by Russia as a hybrid attack on any Nato Eastern flank nation.
"That would be the major Article 5 test that the Alliance has not experienced yet."
Humiliated Putin was left reeling after Ukraine's spectacular raid that - after 18 months of planning - inflicted billions of pounds worth of damage, leaving his bomber fleet in tatters.
Daring agents smuggled drones and explosives deep inside the sprawling country before unleashing a coordinated assault on June 1.
More than 100 drones were hidden in trucks across Russia before being deployed to five air bases - thousands of kilometres from the Ukrainian border.
At least 41 of Putin's prized aircraft were wrecked in the attack - including Tu-95, Tu-22M3, and Tu-160 bombers and A-50 spy planes.
Delivering such a decisive blow has left Ukraine's enemy scrambling.
But a Ukrainian government insider has warned it would also have left Putin's cronies eager to learn from the clandestine operation - and look to mimic it.
The source said it could spell disaster if Vlad uses it as a blueprint to launch an attack on a European country.