Valery Zaluzhny, former military Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine, believes World War III is underway, adding the direct involvement of Russian allies in the conflict indicates the same.
“I absolutely believe that in 2024 we can believe that the Third World War has begun,” Mr Zaluzhny said during a speech at the Ukrainska Pravda’s UP100 award ceremony.
Now serving as Ukraine’s envoy to the United Kingdom, Mr Zaluzhny pointed to the direct involvement of Russia’s autocratic allies as a significant factor in the war’s global expansion.
“Soldiers from North Korea are standing in front of Ukraine. Let’s be honest. Already in Ukraine, the Iranian ‘Shahedis’ are killing civilians absolutely openly, without any shame,” he continued, stressing North Korean troops and Chinese weapons were now actively contributing to the war.
Mr Zaluzhny urged Ukraine’s allies to take decisive action and prevent the conflict from spreading beyond the country’s borders. “It is still possible to stop it here, on the territory of Ukraine. But for some reason, our partners do not want to understand this. It is obvious that Ukraine already has too many enemies,” he warned.
His comments came amid heightened tensions, with Moscow reportedly deploying over 10,000 North Korean troops to the Kursk region and utilising Iranian drones and other advanced weaponry against Ukraine.
“Ukraine will survive with technology, but it is not clear whether it can win this battle alone,” Mr Zaluzhny said.
His speech also coincided with Russia’s use of a hypersonic ballistic missile in Dnipro, an attack that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned as a severe escalation. “This is a clear and severe escalation in the scale and brutality of this war,” Mr Zelensky said.
Valery Zaluzhny has remained a significant voice in Ukraine’s military and political discourse despite his dismissal earlier this year. Once celebrated for stopping Russia’s initial invasion in February 2022, tensions with President Zelensky led to his ousting. General Oleksandr Syrskyi replaced him, reportedly for his closer alignment with Mr Zelensky’s strategies.