Russia’s bloodbath in Ukraine could spiral into World War III, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned Sunday.
He accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “lighting fires” around the globe that risk spiraling out of control — and said the Oct. 7 attack carnage unleashed in Israel by Hamas terrorists October was a “really big wish” of Moscow’s.
And he also accused the Kremlin of stirring up trouble in the Balkans.
He said: “We think that they are preparing now in the Balkans, they are doing new steps,” Zelensky said. “And we think that they are trying to train or even training some people.”
“The idea is to begin one conflict and they don’t manage it, don’t try to stop it.”
‘They won’t stop’
Speaking from his office in Kyiv, Zelensky warned: “Ukraine today is in the center of these global risks of this Third World War.
“And I really think that Russia will push until the United States and China together will tell them very, very seriously to go out of [our] territory.”
He said the war in Israel had diverted the world away from Ukraine, which “doesn’t help” his cause.
And he highlighted Moscow’s ties with Hamas’ backers in Iran, which, Iran has boosted Russia’s war effort by supplying deadly kamikaze drones.
Up to 600,000 people have been killed or injured in Ukraine – most of them Russian soldiers – since Putin launched his full scale invasion on Feb. 24 last year.
Zelensky admitted Ukraine’s fight back this year had not gone as well as he hoped.
His troops have only advanced 10 miles since they launched a counter-offensive in June.
The lack of progress has eroded support from some of Ukraine’s allies and fuelled doubts over whether Zelensky will ever achieve his stated ambition of expelling Russian soldiers from all Ukrainian soil.
