Zelensky warns Putin has ‘already started’ WW3 | World | News
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Vladimir Putin has already triggered World War Three and insisted that the only way to stop him is through overwhelming military and economic pressure.
In an interview at Kiev’s central government complex over the weekend, Zelensky rejected calls for his country to surrender occupied territory in exchange for peace, arguing that Putin’s territorial ambitions extend far beyond Ukrainian territory.
When asked about the possibility of World War III coming to Europe, he said: “I believe Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he can seize and how to stop it. Russia wants to impose a different way of life on the world and change the lives that people choose for themselves.”
Kremlin issues nuclear warning to Estonia
Express reported how tensions between Russia and the West escalated on Sunday when Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov made a direct nuclear threat to a NATO member. Mr. Peskov told the Russian news outlet Vesti that the Kremlin was ready to do whatever was necessary to ensure the country’s security and warned one of the Baltic states about the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory.
On February 18, he addressed Estonia, signaling that it was open to hosting the nuclear weapons of a NATO ally on its territory if deemed necessary: ”If there are nuclear weapons targeting us on Estonian territory, then our nuclear weapons will also target Estonian territory. And Estonia must clearly understand this.”
Ukraine will win, the president insists
In an interview with the BBC, Zelensky ignored mounting pressure from Western analysts and politicians who argue that military victory is impossible without bowing to Moscow. He emphasized that Ukraine would triumph rather than collapse and called Putin’s demands for a ceasefire unacceptable.
Stopping Putin and preventing him from swallowing Ukraine would mean a victory for the entire planet, he argued, because the Russian leader’s appetite for conquest would not end at Ukraine’s borders.
“I believe that stopping Putin today and preventing him from invading Ukraine is a victory for the whole world. Because Putin will not stop in Ukraine.”
Regional capitulation ‘divides our society’
Moscow demands that Kiev withdraw from the one-fifth of the eastern Donetsk region it still controls (urban strongholds that Ukraine calls “fortress cities”), as well as more territory in the southern provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Asked whether such concessions were justified to stop the killings, Zelensky pushed back sharply.
“I see it differently. I don’t look at it as just land. I see it as abandonment; weakening our positions, abandoning the hundreds of thousands of our people who live there. That’s how I see it. And I’m sure this ‘withdrawal’ will divide our society.”
Asked whether giving Putin what he wants would bring lasting peace, Zelensky argued that it would only give the Kremlin breathing room for rearmament.
“It would probably satisfy him for a while… he needs to take a break… but after he recovers, our European partners say it could take three to five years. In my opinion, he can’t recover for more than a few years. Where does he go next? We don’t know, but he would like to continue.” [the war] It’s a fact.”
‘We will take back every inch of it’
The chorus outside the White House suggests that Ukraine faces inevitable defeat unless it reaches an agreement with Moscow. Faced with this assessment, Zelensky cited the location of the meeting as proof that Ukraine had not fallen.
“Where are you right now?” Zelensky told the BBC. “Today you are in Kiev, in the capital of our homeland, in Ukraine. I am very grateful for this. Will we lose? Of course not, because we are fighting for the independence of Ukraine.”
Asked directly whether victory would require regaining every lost meter, Zelensky said Ukraine would eventually restore its borders, but that it would not happen immediately because the human cost would be unbearable.
“We will do this. That’s very clear. It’s just a matter of time. To do this today would mean losing a lot of people, millions of people, because [Russian] The military is large and we understand the cost of such steps. You wouldn’t have enough people, you’d lose them. So what is no man’s land? Honestly, nothing.”
“We also do not have enough weapons. This depends not only on us, but also on our partners. Therefore, this is not possible for now, but it is possible to return to the fair borders of 1991. [the year Ukraine declared its independence, precipitating the final collapse of the Soviet Union] Surely this is not only victory, but also justice. “The victory of Ukraine is the preservation of our independence, and the victory of justice for the whole world is the return of all our lands.”
