Ukraine's ambassador has chillingly warned "World War Three has already begun" - and admitted only the West can save itself by backing Kyiv.
That is the warning from Valeriy Zaluzhny, 51, who commanded Ukrainian troops when they halted Vladimir Putin’s army as it intended to storm Kyiv in three days. He is now Ukraine’s ambassador to London. “I believe that in 2024 we can absolutely definitely consider that the Third World War has begun,” he said in a speech to a Ukrainian Pravda awards ceremony.
"Ukraine no longer faces only Russia", he said. “In front of Ukraine are soldiers from North Korea. Let's be honest — Iranian ‘Shaheds’ [kamikaze drones] are already killing civilians in Ukraine quite openly, without any shyness. North Korean-made missiles are already flying into Ukraine, and they openly declare this.”
Kim Jong Un troops numbering some 10,000-pls are believed to be engaged against Ukraine’s forces in Russia’s Kursk region. “Chinese shells are detonated in Ukraine. Chinese parts are used in Russian missiles.” Most military experts believe WW3 has started, said Zaluzhny. "What has been expected for so long, it has already begun,” he said. “But I want to say that God himself gives a chance, not only to Ukraine, but also to the whole world, so that now we still have time to reach the right conclusions.
“Everything can still be stopped here, on the territory of Ukraine. But for some reason our [Western] partners do not want to understand this. It is obvious that Ukraine already has too many enemies. Ukraine will survive at the expense of technology, but it is unknown whether it will be able to win this battle on its own."
Yet he was optimistic the West would rally to Ukraine, as the next presidency of Donal Trump comes into view in January. “I believe that [regarding the start of] the World War, welcome - it has begun,” said Zalushny.
It comes as the Kremlin fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile at Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use this week of American and British missiles capable of striking deeper into Russia, Vladimir Putin said. In a televised address to the country, the Russian president warned that US air defence systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at Mach 10 and which he called the Oreshnik — Russian for hazelnut tree. He also said it could be used to attack any Ukrainian ally whose missiles are used to attack Russia.
“We believe that we have the right to use our weapons against military facilities of the countries that allow to use their weapons against our facilities,” Putin said in his first comments since President Joe Biden gave Ukraine the green light this month to use U.S. ATACMS missiles to strike at limited targets inside Russia.