As the West escalates its support for Ukraine, Kiev’s former top military commander warned that World War Three is already underway. At the same time, a high-ranking British military official said the UK was ready to fight a war with Russia in Eastern Europe. 

Former military Commander-in-Chief and Ukraine’s current ambassador to the UK, Valery Zaluzhny, made the dire statement in an interview with Politico published on Thursday. “I believe that in 2024 we can absolutely believe that the Third World War has begun,” he said. 

Zaluzhny argued that Chinese, Iranian, and North Korean support for Russia supported his statement. “It is obvious that Ukraine already has too many enemies. Ukraine will survive with technology, but it is not clear whether it can win this battle alone,” he explained. 

As the war has continued for nearly three years, Moscow has formed stronger economic partnerships with China and ramped up military ties with Pyongyang and Tehran. 

Kiev has relied on massive support from Washington and its allies to wage war. The US has provided nearly $200 billion in aid to Ukraine, with tens of billions more coming from other NATO members. 

Western nations have significantly increased that support since Donald Trump won the election earlier this month. President Joe Biden has authorized Ukraine to use long-range American missiles to attack deep inside Russia and approved sending Kiev landmines. 

American and European officials have discussed going far further in escalating their support for Ukraine. The New York Times reports that those officials had discussed with the White House transferring a nuclear weapon to Ukraine before Trump returned to the White House. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the escalations by firing a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile into Ukraine, and he warned that Russia has the right to target military facilities of countries that provide Ukraine with long-range weapons for strikes on Russian territory.

Rob Magowan, the deputy chief of the British defense staff, noted the high tensions in Europe. He told the House of Commons defense committee, “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.”