Vlad doesn’t care how many die in Ukraine meat grinder – and if he wins it won’t just be West that is next, warns Shapps

IF Russia wins in Ukraine, it won’t just be the West that is next, the UK’s Defence Secretary has warned. Grant Shapps told The Sun’s brand new World at War show that a defeat for Kyiv tells the growing axis of evil between Russia, China, Iran that the “West can be beaten”. British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps warned Putin will not stop at Ukraine The Defence Secretary told told The Sun’s World at War show that if the West is defeated in Ukraine, it will send a sinister message to China and Iran Mr Shapps also blasted Putin for not caring how many troops he throws into meat grinder battles Mr Shapps grimly stated that these are “dangerous times” for the UK with threats looming not just in Europe but also in the Middle East and Asia. The defence secretary described the devastation on the Ukraine frontline as a “meat grinder” – with UK intelligence revealing this week some 450,000 Russian troops have been killed and injured. However, he said Putin does not care how many troops he sends in – or how many Ukrainians die. Mr Shapps also promised Britain won’t falter in its commitment to Ukraine at the critical moment. “If Putin were to win that war, he wouldn’t stop in Ukraine. He’d carry on,” he told the Sun’s World at War show which you can watch on The Sun’s YouTube channel and thesun.co.uk. “He’s talked about other areas that he thinks should be part of Greater Russia, basically the old Soviet Union… “Other autocratic leaders around the world would look at this and go: ‘Well, the West can be beaten’ .You just have to carry on for a couple of years and we all give in.” And in the face of what Mr Shapps called an increasingly “assertive” China, he asked: “So, what does that mean for Taiwan?” Instead, first and foremost, he said the UK is focused on “making sure that Ukraine gets what it needs to win this war… [If] we stand up to bullies, the world is a better place. And that is what we are doing here.” Referencing last week’s pledge to raise defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030, Mr Shapps argued that we now live in “more dangerous times”. “It is a time of war in Europe, a major conflict in the Middle East, a much more assertive China, North Korea, [a possibly] nuclear-armed Iran creating all of those problems regionally…these are more dangerous times.” Mr Shapps also called Putin’s escalating threats against the West “outrageous” and blasted the tyrant for not caring how many of his troops die in his brutal war in Ukraine. He argued: “He doesn’t care how many people he murders. He doesn’t care how many people go through the meat grinder of a frontline.” Earlier this week, the UK claimed 450,000 Russia soldiers had been killed or wounded in Ukraine – an average of 560 troops per day since he unleashed his bloodbath over two years ago. The estimates, produced by Leo Docherty, Minister for the Armed Forces, included 100,000 more casualties than Britain’s military intelligence’s estimate in February. Docherty added Russia’s losses surged to 1,300 troops a day in just the last two months, while in total it had lost 3,000 main battle tanks, 10,000 armoured vehicles, 109 aircraft and 23 naval vessels. Mr Shapps, firmly stuck by his former warnings that that we are moving into a “pre-war world”, adding that it was time to shore up the UK’s defences. GettyRussian cluster bombs hit Ukraine’s ‘Harry Potter Castle’ on Tuesday, killing five[/caption] Mr Shapps confirmed UK’s commitment to Ukraine last week with a record £500m military aid package EPAFirefighters run to a burning house after a Russian missile attack on Kharkiv[/caption] GettyShapps revealed he was in talks about a European ‘Sky Shield’[/caption] Pressed on whether the UK’s armed forces were large enough, he said he didn’t believe that Britain was “sufficiently prepared”. He said: “I believe that we’ve taken the peace dividend probably now too many times… So of course, I think we need to do more.” The Defence Secretary also exclusively confirmed Britain is in talks to  join Europe’s new air defence system. The UK is working with EU allies “on what a SkyShield may look like,” he revealed. Some 21 nations are currently involved, including neutral Switzerland. The Sky Shield plan aims to cut costs for countries by coordinating their access to air and defence systems such as the US-made Patriot missile system. Mr Shapps dismissed calls from MPs, including Penny Mordaunt, to buy Israel’s Iron Dome defence technology and said the Europe Sky Shield talks were “in early stages”. And when asked about The Sun’s revelation that Russia had been jamming thousands of British holiday flights, the minister said: “Putin just knows basically no end to his own evil is is my view.” He added that the Ministry of Defence is engaged in “defence research and development” to overcome Russia’s “irresponsible” electric jamming of GPS systems. The Sun’s Defence Editor Jerome Starkey grilled Shapps on his plans for UK defence A wounded Ukrainian soldier is carried away from the frontline GettyRussia is believed to have lost 450,000 men in Ukraine[/caption]