A former NATO chief admitted yesterday that the world faces a “dangerous moment” – as military leaders wonder what decision Russian tyrant Vladimir Putin might make next.

Colonel Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a decorated British Army commander, urged the West to “keep its cool” – and supported the rogue president peddled nuclear rhetoric because “he’s in trouble.”

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He said Putin now had limited options after a week of escalation in which a powerful Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile was fired on Dnipro, in the east Ukraine.

Ukrainian commanders, however, broke ranks to insist World War III had begun and Lieutenant-General Sir Rob Magowan, Deputy Chief of the Defense Staff, told MPs: “If the British Army were asked to fight tonight, they would fight tonight. »

But Mr de Bretton-Gordon told The Sun on Sunday: “Nuclear Armageddon is no longer on the agenda. This won’t happen. The hypersonic missile fired this week at Ukraine is still a test missile.

“And Putin can’t fire a tactical nuclear missile either. These are Iskander missiles with a range of 500 km.

“Now Ukraine has UK-made Storm Shadow missiles and American ATACMS, they can eliminate them.

“I don’t think NATO would stand by and allow Putin to fire a nuclear missile, but that is what is irking Western leaders right now.

“They know they can’t be wrong about that.”

All eyes are on Putin to see what he does next.

It has an arsenal of intercontinental ballistic missiles – capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

It could use short-range nuclear weapons to target the battlefield in Ukraine and NATO countries such as Poland.

Its most terrifying option is the 65ft Poseidon – an underwater nuclear weapon with a range of 10,000km and powerful enough to create a 1,500ft wave of radioactive seawater that could overwhelm Britain .

Despite this, Mr de Bretton-Gordon, a chemical weapons expert, urged the West to stand firm.

He said: “Putin is in a difficult position.

“If he’s so belligerent, it’s because he knows he’s in trouble.

“The 50,000 Russians and North Korean troops in Kursk are easy targets. They are in staging areas and within range of Storm Shadow and ATACMS missiles.

“The rhetoric of Moscow The volume of attacks has increased, but the situation remains the same: whoever holds Kursk at Christmas will have the upper hand in all peace talks.

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“Kursk is a hell of a bargaining chip. This is the key to the Russian psyche, sacred land for them. This is where they defeated the Nazis in 1943.

“This is of course a dangerous time. People are petrified. But as long as Western resolve remains strong, Putin’s options remain limited.

“Acts of sabotage in the gray zone – deniable and unlikely to trigger conflict – will undoubtedly increase in the days to come. It will be the same for the Cold war nuclear rhetoric, but the Russians are really being tested. They lost hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

“If I were Sir Keir Starmer Or Joe Biden I would say to Putin: “If you manage to fire a tactical nuclear weapon, the overwhelming conventional response will put an end to your ‘special military operation’.”

Putin has pledged to use the Oreshnik missile again in “combat conditions” after launching it at Dnipro in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russia with long-range Storm Shadows and ATACMS.

Matthew Savill, director of military science at the think tank RUSI, said: “There are things Russia is doing to harm Ukraine, but it sends a message to us, as international supporters of Ukraine.

“They were like, ‘Do you really want to play chicken with us when we have a lot of weapons like this?’

“They were specifically aimed at Europe given our own weaknesses in missile defense and the shortage of intermediate-range missiles. »

He added that sabotage was another concern.

Russia is suspected of being behind two attempts this month to plant explosives on cargo planes bound for North America.

One of them caught fire in a mail center in Germany and the other caught fire in a warehouse Birmingham.

Putin also lowered Russia’s doctrine on the use of nuclear weapons by saying that an attack from a non-nuclear state, if supported by a nuclear power, will be treated as a joint attack.

Since its invasion of Ukraine, it has repeatedly drawn nuclear red lines, with the West crossing every one of those lines.

World leaders must decide whether they are ready to play again.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned: “The threat is serious and real when it comes to global conflict. »

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The British support Zel’s troops

By Sophie Traîneau

PRIME Minister Sir Keir Starmer must stand with Ukraine even as President-elect Donald Trump weakens US support, a poll suggests.

The British want to see Vladimir Putin’s Russia defeated and do not want the UK to support a peace deal that would be bad for Volodymyr Zelensky’s nation.

This comes amid fears that Trump will pressure Ukraine to cede territory.

The poll shows that 69 percent of Britons believe it is important for the UK that Ukraine defeats Putin’s invasion.

Only nine percent say no.

Some 41 percent fear a deal brokered by Trump would favor Russia.

Only 13% think Ukraine would benefit more, according to a poll of 2,000 adults by the think tank More in Common.

Most want the UK to support Ukraine until it has regained the territory it held at the start of the war.

Nearly half believe that Ukraine should rule on the use of the weapons we supply.

Luke Tryl, of More in Common, said: “Brits think beating Putin is important.

They are also clear that Keir Starmer must not support a US-brokered peace deal that would be detrimental to Ukraine.”