General Jonathan Shaw said the United Kingdom still had the “wrong mindset” about the magnitude of the geopolitical change triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “We need to prepare our people psychologically for a long-term deterioration of living standards and a long-term confrontation with Russia,” he told LBC. The former commander of the Armed Forces said that the standard of living of Britain would worsen “much worse” due to the new Cold War with Russia. “I do not think we are preparing our populations for such difficulties.” General Shaw said he had not heard enough in Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s spring statement about the “pain” to come. “We have all these big transit plans to be free of dependence on wheat and oil from Russia – but the acquisition will be extremely painful.” He said: “We are obsessed with humanitarian concerns and individual suffering and that makes good television – but the reality is that this is much more serious than that. “For years we have been putting the highest priority on finances; we have transactions with all kinds of people. “Our quality of life at home depends entirely on them – cheap fuel, cheap access, agreements with Saudi Arabia and things like that.” The former army chief added: “We have now decided that as far as Russia is concerned we will play geopolitics before the economy and that will come at a price. “We have to be clear about that.” The warning comes as Mr Sunak was called upon to reconsider his offer to families struggling with the rising cost-of-living crisis, following his statement in the spring. The chancellor has been widely criticized for failing to provide any additional assistance with energy bills – other than the 200 200 announced in October – and for deciding not to increase benefits in line with inflation. The Resolution Foundation’s think tank has warned that around 1.3 million Britons will be plunged into poverty due to the squeezing cost of living this year – including some “middle-income”. Senior supporter of Tories Steven Crump said the chancellor would have to do “more” to help in the spring and summer – arguing that it would not be “viable” to wait until the autumn budget. Food bank bosses told the Independent that a growing number of middle-class Britons were already coming to them in “desperate” need for help. And there is growing concern that existing poverty in Britain will become much more pronounced in the coming months. Consumer expert Martin Lewis said some people could “starve to death or freeze”, while food spokesman Jack Monroe also warned that extreme poverty could prove “fatal” in some cases. Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin faces the prospect of further setbacks in Ukraine. He seemed to be preparing the Russians for a possible reduction of his ambitions from the occupation of Kiev to the battle for control of the east. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed his troops as “strong blows” to the invading forces as he urged Moscow to negotiate an end to the war. An adviser to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Markian Lubkivskyi, told the BBC he was skeptical that the Russian’s goals had really changed since trying to take over the entire nation. However, he said that it seemed that “the enemy is concentrated in the eastern part of Ukraine.”
