Ukraine’s former military chief has warned that World War Three is already underway – with Vladimir Putin’s autocratic allies, North Korea, Iran, and China, openly supporting his forces on the battlefield.
Valery Zaluzhny, who is now Ukraine’s envoy to the United Kingdom, told the UP100 award ceremony in Kyiv: ‘I believe that in 2024 we can absolutely believe that the Third World War has begun.’
The General said that as of this year, ‘Ukraine is no longer facing Russia. Soldiers from North Korea are standing in front of Ukraine.’
He made the comments after reports emerged that around 10,000 soldiers had been sent by Pyongyang to fight alongside Russian troops in the Kursk region, as Moscow aims to replenish its forces and reclaim the territory taken from it three months ago.
Zaluzhny went on to highlight the support Putin’s armies had received from Tehran, which has sent thousands of Shahed attack drones to Moscow and also assisted it with the technology to build the drones itself, according to reports.
More than 8,000 Iran-developed drones have been launched since the war began two and a half years ago, Kyiv said in September, with many targeting civilian homes as well as military targets.
‘Let’s be honest. Already in Ukraine, the Iranian ‘Shahedis’ are killing civilians absolutely openly, without any shame,’ Zaluzhny said, adding that Chinese and North Korean weapons were also being used against his country.
It comes after Moscow’s ambassador to the UK declared that Britain is now ‘directly involved’ in the war after Kyiv’s Storm Shadow attack on Russian territory.
Asked if the UK is ‘at war’, the PM told BBC local radio: ‘We’re not at war, but Ukraine certainly is.’ Sir Keir slammed Putin’s ‘irresponsible rhetoric’.
‘Russia is the aggressor,’ he said. ‘This war could end today if Putin stopped being the aggressor.’
Meanwhile, a top military official declared the British Army would be ready to fight Vladimir Putin’s forces ‘tonight’ if Russia were to invade another European nation in addition to Ukraine.
Lt. Gen Sir Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British defense staff, told the House of Commons defense committee yesterday afternoon: ‘If the British Army were asked to fight tonight, it would fight tonight.
‘I don’t think anybody in this room should be under any illusion that if the Russians invaded Eastern Europe tonight, then we would meet them in that fight.’
However, Magowan’s declaration belies the state of the UK’s military capabilities. In May, he acknowledged that Britain’s soldiers would run out of ammunition and equipment in a war against Putin’s Russia in less than two months.
