Gen Fabien Mandon, France’s newly appointed chief of the defence staff and President Emmanuel Macron’s closest military adviser, has triggered a political firestorm with his stark warning that the country must be ready to “lose its children” in a potential war with Russia within the next “three to four years.”

The dramatic language employed by the 56-year-old general has drawn accusations of warmongering and frightening France’s youth from across the political spectrum, reports The Telegraph.

In an address to the nation’s mayors on Wednesday, Gen Mandon asserted that while France possesses the “economic and demographic strength” to overcome Moscow, it lacks the necessary “spirit” within society to do so.

“What we lack – and this is where you have a major role to play – is the strength of spirit to accept that we will suffer in order to protect who we are,” he declared.

“If our country falters because it is not prepared to accept losing its children, because we have to tell it like it is, to suffer economically because priorities will go to defence production, then we are at risk. You need to talk about this in your communities.”

French army tasked with being ‘ready for a clash in three or four years’ with Russia

Earlier, the former fighter jet pilot informed defence committee members that he had instructed the French army to prepare for a potential “clash in three or four years” with Russia.

Citing the ongoing war in Ukraine, Gen Mandon warned that Vladimir Putin “may be tempted to continue the war on our continent”, justifying France’s current “rearmament effort.”

Radical Left-wing leader expresses ‘total disagreement’ with ‘anticipating sacrifices’

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the figurehead of the radical Left-wing France Unbowed, who has historically been pro-Russian and tepid on Ukraine, expressed his “total disagreement” with “anticipating sacrifices that would be the consequence of our diplomatic failures, on which his public opinion was not sought.”

His party’s parliamentary group accused Gen Mandon of “overstepping” his role by dramatizing war scenarios, stating, “A chief of the armed forces should not say that.”

Communist Party leader criticizes ‘unbearable warmongering rhetoric’

Fabien Roussel, leader of the French Communist Party, also denounced Gen Mandon’s comments, saying, “Aren’t 51,000 war memorials in our towns enough? Yes to national defence, but no to unbearable warmongering rhetoric.”

On the political Right, Sebastien Chenu, the populist National Rally’s vice-president, argued that Gen Mandon “has no legitimacy to alarm the French people with alarmist statements that in no way correspond to the country’s official line.”

Segolene Royal, a former Socialist presidential candidate, went even further, insisting that either Mr Macron “explain himself” if he endorsed Gen Mandon’s rhetoric, or else “the chief of staff must resign.”

She warned that such “delusional statements will only increase the anxiety of young people who are already at rock bottom, destabilise the French economy and ridicule France.”