The British military's supply of ammunition would be severely depleted after just one day in a conflict with Russia, a former top general has warned, due to ongoing spending cuts to the defense budget.

General Sir Richard Barrons, who formerly served as the Joint Forces chief, said spending cuts have so weakened the British military that the UK would run out of ammunition and artillery shells within a single day of hot war with Russia. According to The Sun, the UK would need a year to produce the amount of shells that Ukrainians currently use in the conflict.

"This is truly shocking. But it is true. And we must fix it," General Barrons wrote in The Daily Telegraph this week. "The UK spends more on defence than any EU ally and our brave Armed Forces have long been one of Britain's most influential levers around the world. Yet for decades they have been hollowed out by spending cuts."

The general said the government needs to allocate an additional £3 billion per year to the military just to meet the minimum requirements of NATO.

The Ministry of Defence responded to these claims saying that ammunition levels are "highly classified" and that it is indeed boosting spending on ammunition stockpiles. Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, meanwhile, mentioned that the UK defense apparatus has been "hollowed out and underfunded" — but neglected to mention who was responsible.