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Almost half a million Russian soldiers have been killed since Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine, a top British spy chief has revealed.

Anne Keast-Butler, Director of GCHQ, revealed the Kremlin’s killers are going “backwards” on the battlefield.

Ms Keast-Butler revealed how Russia is “scaling up its daily hybrid activity against the UK and Europe” across multiple domains, including assassination attempts in the UK and sabotage attempts targeting Britain’s critical national infrastructure.

And machines – driven by artificial intelligence – will soon be protecting national secrets, acting as a first line of defence in five years in a new “cyber shield”.

This is because humans cannot keep up with the speed of threats Britain is facing.

She said in a speech at Bletchley Park: “Where Russia is scaling up its daily hybrid activity against the UK and Europe, stretching from the seabed to cyberspace — relentlessly targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust.

“But let me be clear that in the face of such aggression and chaos, GCHQ is working tirelessly with intelligence and Defence partners to degrade and reduce the Russian threat.

“One area in sharp focus for us is protecting the data and energy flowing through the critical cables and pipelines in and around British waters – we do this by exposing Russia’s intent, motive and underwater capabilities.

“We’re also disrupting Russia’s efforts to smuggle Western tech… fending off cyber attacks… and countering reckless sabotage and assassination attempts.

“And as we remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine, Putin is going backwards on the battlefield…

“With new intelligence showing that almost half a million Russian soldiers have now been killed since the conflict began.”

Ms Keast-Butler warned of a new arms race for tech supremacy that will revolutionise how wars are fought.

She revealed: “Warfare is being reconfigured; increasingly data-driven, AI-enabled, and automated in conflicts from Ukraine to Iran.

“Tech companies are releasing AI-driven innovations at a remarkable pace, with untold consequences, as algorithms are weaponised often just below the threshold of traditional warfare.

“And China is now a science and tech superpower with sophisticated intelligence, cyber and military capabilities.”

And technology is becoming so advanced machines will soon have to defend Britain’s secrets.

The cyber chief told delegates at a speech in Bletchley Park: “GCHQ has developed the blueprint for a new national cyber defence capability that hardwires cutting-edge agentic AI into machine speed cyber defence.

“And as we draw on decades of expertise in machine learning to reimagine cyber security. We’re also embedding frontier AI deeper into our operations – responsibly and ethically – to enhance algorithms, translate foreign languages, and find needles in haystacks quicker than ever before.”

Agentic AI are autonomous systems that set goals, plan tasks and execute actions with little human interaction. They will effectively identify threats towards the UK, communicate with other AI “bots”, and develop an action plan.

The UK is believed to be the only country in the World to try such a method.

But the GCHQ boss revealed a new tech threat is emerging.

She said: “Quantum sensing is already here – our new cutting-edge work with academia and industry is identifying the fingerprints of stealth platforms, such as detecting missile launches.

“And once they are operational, quantum computers will be able to complete, in a matter of seconds, tasks that currently take years.

“That includes defeating the codes and encryption that keeps our secrets safe today.

“So, we must protect our most critical systems from future quantum attacks.”