Defence secretary John Healey warns Britain faces a 'live and rising threat' from Russia - as more than 90,000 cyber-attacks emanating from Moscow have been aimed at the UK in the last two months

Britain faces a 'live and rising threat' from Russia , the Defence Secretary warned yesterday, as new evidence emerged of the Kremlin's efforts to menace the UK.

Defence sources said Moscow was now making 'concerted, daily' attempts to hack into the UK's 'core' defence networks.

In the last two months alone, more than 90,000 cyber-attacks emanating from Russia have been picked up. During the same period, 20,000 defence and military personnel have been directly targeted by hackers thought to be operating on behalf of the Kremlin's specialist GRU unit, which was blamed for the 2018 Salisbury poisonings .

At the same time, conventional British forces have had to respond to mounting attempts by the Russian military to test the UK's border defences.

Defence sources revealed that RAF jets had to scramble for the second time in days last week to respond to Russian military aircraft approaching the UK's airspace. RAF jets were scrambled from RAF Lossiemouth on both September 11 and 13 to intercept Russian aircraft, including Bear-F maritime patrol planes.

Earlier this month HMS Iron Duke and HMS Tyne monitored four Russian naval ships as they passed through the Channel and North Sea.

Defence Secretary John Healey told the Mail that Vladimir Putin appeared to be deliberately targeting the UK over this country's support for Ukraine. He warned that Britain now faced a 'live and rising threat' from Russia.

Intelligence chiefs believe the activity is part of a reckless campaign of sabotage being waged by Russia against Ukraine's European allies.

A defence source said dealing with malign Russian activity was now a 'daily reality' for those defending the UK.

The surge in activity comes ahead of a crunch meeting at the United Nations this week, when Ukraine's allies will debate whether to allow the use of long range Storm Shadow missiles against military targets deep inside Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to present a 'plan for victory' when he meets Western leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York. Yesterday, as he signed American artillery shells, he said the events of the autumn would 'determine the future of this war'.

Sir Keir Starmer will fly to New York for the summit tonight, just days after a trip to Washington where he discussed the use of Storm Shadow with Joe Biden.

Putin has threatened reprisals against the West if the use of Storm Shadow is sanctioned, saying it 'would mean that Nato countries, the United States, and European countries are at war with Russia'.

Speaking at Labour's conference in Liverpool yesterday, Mr Healey said president Zelensky's plan would be a 'defining' moment for the next period of the conflict in Ukraine.

'I see this meeting at the United Nations, and the potential contribution that President Zelensky is promising as defining for this next period ahead,' he said.

The Defence Secretary said what victory for Ukraine will look like is for Ukraine to decide, but that it is 'absolutely preventing Putin from prevailing'.