THE British Army will be stretched to breaking point if thousands of troops go to hold the line in Ukraine.
Top Army sources insisted they could cope, but warned it would leave no slack if the UK’s enemies attack elsewhere.
It comes as US officials including Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived to meet their Kremlin counterparts in Saudi Arabia for early talks over a peace deal.
Ukraine and America’s Nato allies have not been invited.
A British defence source has labelled the US sprint for peace as a “gift to Vladimir Putin”.
He was meeting other European leaders yesterday as they try to work around the shifting sands of US foreign policy.
But an MoD insider has warned transferring so many British troops to Ukraine duties would leave the Army “fixed” in place.
The UK could send two brigades — up to 10,000 troops — as well as an HQ, insiders said.
A top source warned it was “premature” to promise troops before there is a peace deal — especially as Donald Trump has frozen Ukraine and its allies out of the process.
If the UK sends 10,000 peacekeepers, another 20,000 would be needed on standby in Britain.
Of those, half would be preparing to go and the other half recovering and training their successors.
Our source said: “It would be a lot like when we had wars in Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time.
The Army was flat out then. The difference was we had 100,000 soldiers. Today, there’s barely 70,000.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said it would take at least 200,000 troops to enforce any peace deal with Russia.
Western officials suggested a force half that size would suffice, as their main job would be to act as a trip wire for Russia.
They said: “A trip wire force has to be big enough to deter Russia or to slow them down.
“But if Moscow wanted to overrun a multi-national force there would have to be a build up and we would see it coming. We would have time to respond.”
The UK has 71,300 trained soldiers — its smallest Army for 200 years. An Army source said: “The best thing Britain can offer is command and control in the form of an HQ.
But if you’re the country providing the headquarters, you have to put in troops as well.”
The UK has already committed a 5,000 strong brigade to Nato duties in Estonia if tensions escalate.
That also requires another 10,000 ready to rotate, meaning 15,000 are needed in total.
Another source said: “If we had 5,000 in Estonia and 10,000 in Ukraine, we would need 45,000 soldiers.
“The field army is only 48,000 soldiers. That’s 95 per cent of the field army gone. It doesn’t leave much flex.”
It comes as a top UK defence source warned the US blind-siding allies and freezing out Ukraine has “taken the pressure off Russia”.
Even Moscow has framed the last-minute talks in Riyadh as a coup for tyrant Putin.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said: “The presidents agreed to leave behind this absolutely ridiculous period in US-Russia relations, when they essentially didn’t speak.”
Lavrov also scoffed at US allies who felt left out of the process.
He said: “I don’t know if there’s anything for them to do at the negotiating table.”
A former UK forces chief said: “The best thing we could do is divert all our effort to help Ukraine keep pressure on Russia.”
He said Moscow’s economy is in trouble and risks collapsing within the year. Interest rates are at 20 per cent and the Kremlin is spending almost half its budget on security and defence.
He added: “The only way to get concessions from Putin is if he is under pressure.”
Trumpstunned allies last week by revealing he had held talks with Putin, far left.
The President’s aides said Ukraine would never join Nato, scoffed at Kyiv’s aim of retaking captured territory and ruled out sending US troops to police the front line.
President Zelensky, on a visit to the United Arab Emirates yesterday, said Kyiv “will not take part” in the Riyadh talks and “did not know anything about it”.
He added: “We cannot recognise any agreements about us without us.”
The US Secretary of State said he wants to set out a framework for peace talks, promising: “If it’s real negotiations, Ukraine will have to be involved. And the Europeans as they have sanctions on Russia.”
As talks begin, footage of a Russian commander has emerged seeming to order the illegal execution of two Ukrainian soldiers.
Speaking via a drone, he repeatedly orders the killing of the unarmed, surrendered troops.
