The UK will be embroiled in a "hot or cold" war within seven years, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has warned.
The cabinet member sounded an ominous warning, stating: "War is coming."
Mr Wallace said the world is "definitely more dangerous, more unstable and more insecure” as a result of Vladimir Putin's illegal war as he piled pressure on Rishi Sunak over defence spending.
A row is brewing within Tory ranks ahead of Jeremy Hunt's Budget on March 15 as he demands a larger slice of the pie.
The defence secretary said the government needs to recognise and prepare for impending danger.
Mr Wallace told The Sun: “Conflict is coming by the end of this decade, whether it is a cold war or hot, war is coming.
“We just have to recognise that in order to deter you just have to be ready, you have to be equipped and you have to stand with your friends and your allies.”
He made the remark ahead of the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine on Friday.
Mr Wallace stated: “The world is more dangerous, more anxious and more insecure… we need a greater proportion of the public spend on defence."
He told LBC this morning that he expects the war will still be going on this time next year, said said: "I think Russia has shown a complete disregard, not only for the lives of the people of Ukraine, but for its own soldiers.
"We are sitting here 12 months in and 188,000, actually more now, Russian soldiers are dead or injured as a result of this catastrophic miscalculation and aggression by President Putin.
"When someone has crossed the line and thinks it is OK to do that to your own people, running effectively a meat grinder for an army, I think he is not going to stop."
General Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of Joint Forces Command, called in the Sunday Express for Jeremy Hunt to approve an annual boost of £3 billion and stop "deliberately keeping defence broken".
Earlier this week Admiral Lord West, former First Sea Lord and Chief of the Naval Staff, told the Daily Mail: "It’s extraordinary that with a war raging in Europe, we’re the only country almost that hasn’t done quite a massive increase in defence spending."
He continued: "If Putin is sitting there when this defence review comes round, and again Britain doesn’t increase defence spending, he’s going to say 'Ah, they’re not serious, are they? I don’t need to pay much attention to them'."
During a debate last month in the Commons, Mr Wallace said he was "happy to say that we have been hollowed out and underfunded".
Only days later, he told a joint UK-Australia press conference in Portsmouth that a "growing proportion" of Government spending would need to go towards keeping the country safe, in a message that was read as being directed at Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ahead of the Budget.
