Would Trump come to Britain's defence should we be drawn into war?

PM under pressure to bolster UK Forces as he heads to Estonia

- Peter Apps

WHEN researchers from the Baltic states sent a private satellite over Russia's Pskov airbase in June, the burn marks were still visible in the asphalt from a Ukrainian drone attack that destroyed two massive cargo planes the previous August.

The images and those from 23 nearby bases in Russia and its ally Belarus revealed that much of the military equipment stockpiled before Vladimir Putin's 2022 invasion of Ukraine appears to have gone, almost certainly sent into action.

However, the footage also showed new facilities at several bases, including ammunition storage that could support an attack on Nato's most exposed Baltic members: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

When journalists showed the images to Estonia's former top military commander Martin Herem, his response was: "This isn't good at all."

Bases said to have restocked include one of Russia's largest, just 75 miles from the Estonian border.

According to researchers, units permanently based in Luga include Iskander missile systems, which can hit anywhere in Estonia. Should war come to Eastern Europe, British troops might well find themselves under fire from them.

It is a danger that may have become more acute this week with Donald Trump's US election victory throwing into question America's commitment to the defence of Europe. How to tackle that will be top of the agenda for the UK's current Strategic Defence Review.

Following criticism of their record £40billion in tax rises, Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves will be nervous of any new commitments to boost military spending to 2.5% of GDP-something the Labour manifesto pledged without providing a timescale for.

But with Trump's previous claims that allies who do not pay up for their own defence could lose US protection, they may not have a choice.