Putin Already Started World War III

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian leader Vladimir Putin already started World War III by launching the 2022 invasion of Ukraine in a new interview with the BBC.

“I believe that Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him,” Zelensky told the outlet in an interview published Monday morning, a day before the country marks the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

“Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life and change the lives people have chosen for themselves,” he added.

Zelensky also took a firmer stance on territorial integrity, subtly walking back earlier proposals to relinquish control over areas Moscow continues to demand Kyiv recognize as Russian and withdraw its troops from in ongoing peace talks.

He said relinquishing 20 percent of the Donetsk region that Moscow has failed to capture since 2014 – in addition to parts of the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions under Russian occupation – would amount to “abandoning” the residents still living there, when asked whether he considered such concessions a “reasonable request” for a ceasefire.

“I see this differently. I don’t look at it simply as land. I see it as abandonment – weakening our positions, abandoning hundreds of thousands of our people who live there. That is how I see it,” Zelensky said.

“And I am sure that this ‘withdrawal’ would divide our society.”

While Zelensky in December proposed letting Ukrainians decide on potential land concessions through a referendum, he has since taken a firmer stance, saying Kyiv will not cede territory as peace talks stall and proposed US-backed security guarantees remain vague.

In his BBC interview, Zelensky also said the concessions would only “satisfy [Putin] for a while.”

“It would probably satisfy him for a while… he needs a pause… but once he recovers, our European partners say it could take three to five years,” he said, echoing claims by Germany that Russia could invade Europe by 2028-29.

“In my opinion, he could recover in no more than a couple of years. Where would he go next? We do not know, but that he would want to continue [the war] is a fact,” he added.

“Leaders will change”

As the war nears its four-year mark, Zelensky also told the BBC that he believes victory will ultimately be Ukraine’s – and tacitly suggested he was betting on the US Congress for support, not US President Donald Trump.

“It is not only President Trump, we’re talking about America. We are all presidents for the appropriate terms. We want guarantees for 30 years for example. Political elites will change, leaders will change,” Zelensky said when asked if he could “trust President Trump” when it comes to security guarantees.

“They will be voted on in Congress for a reason. It’s not just presidents. Congress is needed. Because the presidents change, but institutions stay.”

Trump vowed before his reelection to end Russia’s war in Ukraine within 24 hours and has since sought to pressure Kyiv to comply with Moscow’s demands to relinquish the Donbas region through negotiations that have intermittently continued for more than a year.

None of the efforts produced any ceasefire as promised, however.

Zelensky also struck a more optimistic tone on battlefield developments, dismissing speculation that Kyiv could face defeat without making concessions to Moscow.

“Will we lose? Of course not, because we are fighting for Ukraine’s independence,” he said, adding that Ukraine will win back its territories, one way or another.

“We’ll do it. That is absolutely clear. It is only a matter of time. To do it today would mean losing a huge number of people – millions of people – because the [Russian] army is large, and we understand the cost of such steps,” Zelensky said.

“You would not have enough people, you would be losing them. And what is land without people? Honestly, nothing.”

The remarks mirror another interview with the AFP, during which Zelensky said Kyiv is “definitely not losing” the war.

“You can’t say that we’re losing the war. Honestly, we’re definitely not losing it, definitely. The question is whether we will win,” he told AFP. “That is the question – but it’s a very costly question.”

The statements came as Kyiv liberated over 300 square kilometers (116 square miles) in southern Ukraine within days after communications within the Russian military collapsed as a result of the Starlink ban, which deprived troops of crucial frontline communications.

But Zelensky acknowledged that victory, in one way or another, still requires support from Kyiv’s allies.

“And we also don’t have enough weapons. That depends not just on us, but on our partners,” he told the BBC.

“So as of now that’s not possible but returning to the just borders of 1991 without a doubt, is not only a victory, it’s justice.”