UK officials said they fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin will declare all-out war and expand his military operations in Ukraine on Russia's Victory Day on May 9.
And she explained in
a report
that British officials warned that Putin might turn what Russia calls the "special military operation" currently underway in Ukraine into an official declaration of all-out war, in order to calm the "anger" felt by the Russian army over the failures of its attack on Kiev.
She said that senior Russian military officials, seeking to "compensate" for the losses in their ranks, are appealing to Putin to replace the slogan "special military operation" with an all-out war cry, which would allow the Kremlin to provoke mass mobilization of the population.
Moscow describes what it is doing in Ukraine as a "special operation" to disarm Ukraine and protect it from the Nazis, but Kyiv and Western leaders say this is a false pretext for an unjustified Russian war of aggression.
Benefits of declaring war
The newspaper pointed out that if Putin declared war on Ukraine, Moscow would be able to recruit more people, keep them in the army for longer than usual, impose martial law, and request support from its allies such as Belarus.
The report attributed the British Defense Minister Ben Wallace warning of the possibility of investing the annual presentation date in Moscow to declare war, saying that Putin, who "failed" in most of his goals in the war with Ukraine, may officially declare war on "Nazis in the world."
Wallace added that he would not be surprised if Putin announced on May Day tomorrow that they are now at war with the Nazis in the world and that they need a wide mobilization of the Russian people.