All the ways Putin could attack the UK with devastating consequences – The Independent

All the ways Putin could attack the UK with devastating consequences  The Independent

As it is revealed that drones are targeting Britain’s military bases almost daily, leaving the UK vulnerable to growing threats from Russia and Iran, defence expert Francis Tusa explains how and where a Russian hybrid warfare campaign could start and spread Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today. To get things on the record: Russia, directly or via Kremlin-linked influencers, have threatened the UK in a variety of ways ever since Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. A nuclear strike, nuclear torpedoes that could set off a tsunami, you name it – it has been threatened. And yet, to date, no major incident has happened.

However, the nature, scale and potential consequences of the threat are changing. At the weekend, The Independent reported Some 340 security incidents involving drones were reported at or near Ministry of Defence sites in the year to August 2026, data obtained under freedom of information laws show. In 2025, there were a total of 250 incidents recorded – double the 126 recorded the year before. The MoD would not give details of who it suspected was behind the threats, but experts say hostile actors working on behalf of Moscow or Tehran were the obvious culprits. The stark figures, obtained under freedom of information laws,