Lord West, former chief of the Royal Navy has given a chilling warning that if there is a wrong move the Russian and Ukrainian crisis could start a nuclear war.

Lord Admiral West said that the Russian President is acting like “Hitler” as he is becoming more “unpredictable” and is heading the same way as many other dictators.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is being compared to the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis when there was a 13 day nuclear standoff.

Lord West warned, “Putin is going the way so many dictators are, becoming unpredictable and not acting in a rational manner, rather in the same way as Hitler.

“Whilst he loves the idea of the Russia empire, he actually doesn’t really care about the Russians and a leader with his power is highly dangerous.

“Hitler created all sorts of the same excuses in the same way as Putin is.

“Putin wants to overturn the world order and go back to the Soviet Union – where he effectively controls them. He thinks all these countries should be in the thrall of Russia.”

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General Sir Richard Sherriff, Britain’s former top NATO commander said Putin’s “invasion of a sovereign country could turn into a catastrophic war with warfare on a scale not seen in Europe since 1945.”

Professor Ashok Swain, of peace and conflict research at Sweden’s Uppsala University, warned the world is now teetering on the “brink of a very hot Cold War.”

Professor Swain told The Sun Online, “A united West can only keep the ambition of Putin limited to these two countries in that region.

“But Putin will aim at others if the West flounders, particularly the Baltic countries.

“Putin also wants the central Asian countries under Russian influence completely, where he has the challenge from China.”

He added: “It is a serious crisis, not since World War Two, but at least since the end of the Cold War in Europe.

“This situation is quite precarious as the US is losing its dominance, and at the same time, China and Russia are gaining more and more economical, military, and political strength.

“The New Cold War that is in the making will be more complex and challenging for the West to gain the upper hand.

“I don’t see a World War Three happening soon. But, the world is on the brink of a very hot Cold War, in which hybrid warfare will be the new norm.”