Zelenskyy says Putin has started WWIII

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of starting a third world war and said stopping Moscow’s invasion would be a “victory for the whole world.”

“Today we speak about stopping this war. I believe that stopping Putin today and preventing him from occupying Ukraine is a victory for the whole world, because Putin will not stop at Ukraine,” Zelenskyy told the BBC in an interview published Monday, a few hours ahead of EU foreign ministers discussing Russian sanctions in Brussels and just a day before the fourth anniversary of Putin’s full-scale invasion.

Later in the interview, Zelenskyy said he believed Putin had already started a third world war. “The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him,” the Ukrainian leader said. “Therefore I believe, and have long believed, that Putin has already begun this war. And we must prevent it from becoming a broad full-scale third world war.”

Asked whether Ukraine was still keen to get back all the land seized by Russia, Zelenskyy replied: “In any case, we will achieve that. That is absolutely clear. It is only a matter of time.” However, he added: “To do it today would mean losing a huge number of people, millions of people, because the Russian army is large and we understand the cost of such steps.”

Zelenskyy insisted Ukraine would ultimately prevail. “What is land without people? Honestly, nothing,” he argued. He said that restoring the country’s 1991 borders would be “a victory for justice” and emphasized that Ukraine would need outside help. “We also do not have a sufficient amount of weapons. That depends not only on us,” he said.

Putin, meanwhile, emphasized his intention to strengthen combat capabilities and urged his country to push toward full militarization, in a video address on the occasion of a Feb. 23 holiday. The Kremlin “will increase the pace of development of advanced systems for the armed forces,” he said.