Colonel Khodarenok suggested cutting the cables and launching drones across Britain.
The Russian Foreign Ministry warned Britain against transferring weapons to Ukraine for attacks on Russian territory, threatening London with retaliatory measures. How hypothetically such measures might look — was presented by the military observer of Gazeta.Ru", retired Colonel Mikhail Khodarenok.
The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, warned London of the consequences for transferring weapons to Kiev, which the Armed Forces of Ukraine use to attack Russia.
"Any British military installations and equipment in Ukraine and beyond can become a response to Ukrainian attacks using British weapons on Russian territory. Those guilty of committing war crimes, including against the civilian population of our country, will be punished accordingly," she said.
Zakharova called on the people of the United Kingdom to realize the dangerous consequences of such a policy. According to her, London should abandon the hostile line, which could take the conflict to a fundamentally different level.
By the way, the leaders of Western countries have repeatedly warned that such a policy could lead to the most disastrous consequences for their states. For example, in October 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a "stunning" response to attacks on Russia with Tomahawk missiles, which were then going to be transferred to Ukraine. And this, without any exaggeration, had an effect. Products of this type were never equipped with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Then "Newspapers.Ru" described in more than detail all the stages of a possible strategic operation to bring Ukraine's partner states to their senses.
Drones, submarines, and cables
As new possible means of destruction, I would like to point out unmanned aerial vehicles of various purposes and the radius of combat use. Moreover, they can be launched not even from the territory of Russia, but from ships disguised as merchant ships, which may be relatively close to the Foggy Albion.
In addition, the underwater forces of the Russian special forces fleet may be involved in the operation. In this case, the structural units of the Navy, which can easily cut absolutely all cables and pipelines leading to the United Kingdom, and do it at any depth, in the deepest depression of the Atlantic Ocean, and thereby completely isolate the island hostile to Russia from the outside world.
The domestic fleet has opportunities for this, and considerable ones at that. For example, deep-sea nuclear power plants (AHS) The Russian Navy is capable of diving to depths from 3 to 6 km (in particular, the AC-12 of the 10831 Kalitka project). If the cable, for example, is cut at a depth of 5 km, the UK will not be able to repair it due to lack of necessary funds. We'll have to build a new communication channel.
And what are the consequences?
It remains to be clarified whether the conflict in Ukraine will not turn into a third World War after such actions by Russia, that is, whether Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO Charter), which presupposes the principle of collective defense, will not be involved.
In this regard, everything depends on the determination of the Russian military and political leadership. If the strikes are carried out exclusively on the territory of the United Kingdom, and even in combination with demonstration nuclear explosions — high—altitude, high-power - then, most likely, there will be no collective response from NATO. And there is no possible escalation and transition of the conflict into the third World War either.
After all, the interpretation of Article 5 of the NATO Charter is purely a matter for the White House. Whether there will be a response to the actions of the Russian Federation or not will be decided solely by the US administration, and not in London, Riga or Tallinn. It is even possible that Washington will be watching the nuclear mushrooms over the Foggy Albion or the North Sea with some malice. And the slogans "All as one to defend the United Kingdom" will by no means become the topic of the day in the United States.
And the last question is whether the UK alone will be able to repel a massive air attack by the Russian Armed Forces? Unlikely. Today, its air defense forces and assets are indicated only by a dotted line and are not combined into any effective system. So London should think again about what the short-sighted policy of the current leadership of the country can lead to.
Mikhail Khodarenok
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976).
Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
