WW3 warning over Ukraine deal from former Defence Minister - 'We could all go to war'

A former UK Defence Secretary, Sir Ben Wallace, has warned that new security guarantees for Ukraine could, in the long run, pull Britain into a direct conflict with Russia.

Wallace, who served as defence secretary between 2019 and 2023, said he supports the idea of giving Ukraine NATO-style protection, but stressed that such a move would have serious consequences. The plan, first suggested by Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and discussed recently at the White House with Donald Trump and European leaders, would not make Ukraine a NATO member. Instead, it would involve collective defence commitments similar to NATO’s Article 5.

Wallace told Times Radio:

“It is totally possible that we could all go to war if Ukraine is attacked again.”

He reminded listeners of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, when Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in return for security guarantees from the US, UK, and Russia. Moscow later broke that agreement, and Western allies failed to uphold it. For Wallace, this is a reminder that any new guarantees must be written into a treaty and properly ratified by parliaments to hold weight.

The proposals aim to deter Russia from launching further attacks. According to US envoy Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump described the security guarantees as “game-changing.” Trump also said European nations would serve as the “first line of defence,” while the US would stand behind a “very good security guarantee.” He even hinted at arranging a direct meeting between Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has said he is willing to meet.

At the same time, British defence intelligence has assessed that based on current progress, Russia would need more than four years to fully occupy the Ukrainian regions it is targeting—Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson.

The White House meeting brought together leaders including UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Finland’s Alexander Stubb, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte also joined.

As Trump explained in an interview:

“What we are discussing here is not NATO membership, what we are discussing here is Article 5-type security guarantees for Ukraine, and what exactly they will entail will now be more specifically discussed.”

This debate reflects the difficult balance: supporting Ukraine’s security without escalating into a wider war that could involve Britain and other allies.