Royal Navy carrier HMS Prince of Wales 'on standby to be deployed' if Ukraine situation escalates

The 65,000 tonne leviathan Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft has recently been made Nato flagship and will be spearheading the alliance’s front-line maritime task force in the Arctic, Baltic and Mediterranean for the next year.

She departed Portsmouth on January 12 as part of a three-week warm-up ahead of her new job.

Russia has been amassing thousands of troops on the border with Ukraine in recent weeks, amid fears President Putin could be on the verge of ordering an invasion.

The Prime Minister is looking at doubling the number of troops deployed to strengthen Europe’s borders, saying it would ‘send a clear message to the Kremlin’ that ‘we will not tolerate their destabilising activity’.

Fast jets, warships and military specialists could also be sent to protect Nato allies.

SEE ALSO: Royal Navy's HMS Prince of Wales leaves Portsmouth to prepare for Nato mission

Britain have 900 military personnel based in Estonia, and a Light Cavalry Squadron of around 150 people is deployed to Poland, No 10 said.

The Telegraph reports that this figure could be double, while Apache helicopters could be deployed across the Balkans as well as sending aType 45 destroyer and an offshore patrol vessel to patrol the Black Sea.

According to reports HMS Prince of Wales has been ‘placed on standby to be deployed if the situation further escalates’.

Previously the skipper, Captain Steve Higham, insisted his crew ‘absolutely recognised the challenge posed by Russia’ and insisted they were ready to act, if needed.

An additional RAF squadron could also be deployed to Cyprus to patrol Bulgarian and Romanian airspace.

Boris Johnson is expected to speak to Russian president Vladimir Putin and travel to the troubled region early this week.

A second trip to meet Nato member counterparts is being planned for early next month, No 10 said.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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