General Carsten Breuer, the Chief of Defense of the Bundeswehr—the armed forces of Germany, said the latter must prepare not only the army, but also its industry and civil society for a possible military conflict, Bild reports, citing his speech at the Prague Defense Summit.

“Without you, we soldiers, are doomed to failure. But failure is not an option, because that would mean a mortal threat to our societies as we know them. We are all in the same boat,” Breuer said.

Also, the German general called for taking into account the experience of the war in Ukraine and the development of military technology.

“Russia is learning. They are copying and adapting. They are introducing innovations that are aimed at our strengths and to circumvent them,” he said.

Russian authorities, however, deny plans to attack NATO countries.