The Third World War has already started and people should expect more conflicts to break out, Ukraine’s top security chief declared on Tuesday.
Speaking from the Kyiv Security Forum alongside former CIA chief General David Petraeus, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said that “people that think the Third World War has not yet started make a big mistake.”
“This is not just about relations between Ukraine and Russia, it’s also a big mistake. It’s a much more complicated geopolitical situation and some sober-minded people have said that this is not the last war in this century,” Danilov continued.
Rejecting the idea of coming to the negotiating table with Moscow, Danilov — who previously served as the mayor of the now Russian-occupied Donbas city of Luhansk — compared the situation his country is currently facing to London during the Blitz, saying that President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not have called Winston Churchill and say “don’t bother Hitler, he has a strong army, don’t anger him, just accept this.”
“Unfortunately, the balls of some people in big-time politics now are soft-boiled eggs, they are scared stiff before Russia,” he said of Western figures calling for peace negotiations.
The security chief said that there is “no way” that they will negotiate with Putin, branding him as a “killer of Ukrainian children” who should be “locked up and remain behind bars”.
“We cannot say that the war is going to end today or after tomorrow because this depends on too many factors, our people will fight for independence for as long as it takes,” he said adding that Ukraine will continue to fight to restore its borders and take back the territory controlled by Russia.
It is not the first time that the Ukrainians have suggested that the conflict may spark World War III, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying shortly after the Russian invasion last year that it “may have already started” and that given the advent of nuclear weapons, the “whole civilisation” is at stake.
During the Kyiv Security Forum panel on Tuesday, Former CIA Director General David Petraeus, the former commanding general of coalition forces in the Iraq War, also compared the conflict in Ukraine to the Second World War.
“I haven’t seen anything like it since World War II. The Russians are not particularly impressive in terms of knowledge or performance on the battlefield, but they have created a rather outstanding defence system, and it is quite difficult to punch it through,” he said.
The general went on to say that he had hoped that Ukraine would have been invited to join the NATO alliance at the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania in July but said that since that did not come to pass, he hopes that Ukraine will be given the opportunity at the next summit in Washington D.C. next year.
“Although I sometimes wish decisions are made faster, in particular regarding F-16 aircraft or long-range missiles, nevertheless the scope of support is absolutely incredible,” Petraeus said.
On the issue of joining the American-led NATO alliance, The Ukrainian security chief also said that he believes his country will become the 33rd member of the American-led NATO alliance, citing the “determination” of Zelensky.
The comments came a day before U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Kyiv to meet with President Zelensky and to confirm America’s continued support of the proxy war being waged on Russia’s doorstep, with Blinken reportedly set to commit up to another $1 billion to the country.
Despite growing public resentment over the vast sums of taxpayer money being shipped across the globe to protect the borders of a foreign nation, the Biden administration is reportedly seeking another $24 billion in aid to Ukraine, on top of the $113 committed since last year, alone.
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