Vladimir Putin has already triggered World War Three, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned, insisting the only way to stop him is through overwhelming military and economic pressure.
In a weekend interview at Kyiv’s central government complex, Zelensky rejected calls for his country to hand over occupied land in exchange for peace, arguing that Putin’s territorial ambitions stretch well beyond Ukrainian soil.
When asked about the spectre of WW3 coming to Europe, he said: “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… Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life and change the lives people have chosen for themselves.”
Kremlin issues nuclear warning to Estonia
The Express reported how tensions between Russia and the West skyrocketed on Sunday when Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov issued a direct nuclear threat at one of NATO’s members. Mr Peskov told the Russian news outlet Vesti the Kremlin is ready to do anything needed to ensure the country’s security, and warned one of the Baltic Countries over the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory.
Addressing Estonia, which on February 18 signalled it was open to host a NATO ally’s nuclear weapons on its territory if deemed necessary, he said: “If there are nuclear weapons on Estonian territory aimed at us, then our nuclear weapons will be aimed at Estonian territory. And Estonia must clearly understand this.”
Ukraine will prevail, president insists
During a BBC interview, Zelensky brushed aside growing pressure from Western analysts and politicians who claim military victory is impossible without giving ground to Moscow. He insisted Ukraine would triumph rather than collapse, and dismissed Putin’s ceasefire demands as unacceptable.
Stopping Putin and preventing him from swallowing Ukraine would represent a triumph for the entire planet, he argued, because the Russian leader’s appetite for conquest won’t end at Ukraine’s frontiers.
“I believe that stopping Putin today and preventing him from occupying Ukraine is a victory for the whole world. Because Putin will not stop at Ukraine.”
Territorial surrender ‘would divide our society’
Moscow is demanding Kyiv withdraw from a fifth of the eastern Donetsk region it still controls — urban strongholds Ukraine calls “fortress cities” — plus more ground in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to the south. When asked whether such concessions might be justified to stop the killing, Zelensky pushed back hard.
“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. And I am sure that this ‘withdrawal’ would divide our society.”
Pressed on whether giving Putin what he wants might bring lasting peace, Zelensky argued it would only buy the Kremlin breathing space to rearm.
“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. 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.”
‘We will reclaim every inch’
A chorus of voices outside the White House now argues Ukraine faces inevitable defeat unless it cuts a deal with Moscow. When confronted with this assessment, Zelensky pointed to the location of the interview itself as proof Ukraine hasn’t fallen.
“Where are you now?” Zelensky told the BBC. “Today you are in Kyiv, you are in the capital of our homeland, you are in Ukraine. I am very grateful for this. Will we lose? Of course not, because we are fighting for Ukraine’s independence.”
Asked directly whether victory requires recovering every metre of lost ground, Zelensky said Ukraine would eventually restore its borders — but not immediately, because the human cost would be unbearable.
“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. You would not have enough people, you would be losing them. And what is land without people? Honestly, nothing.”
“And we also don’t have enough weapons. That depends not just on us, but on our partners. So as of now that’s not possible but returning to the just borders of 1991 [the year Ukraine declared its independence, precipitating the final collapse of the Soviet Union] without a doubt, is not only a victory, it’s justice. Ukraine’s victory is the preservation of our independence, and a victory of justice for the whole world is the return of all our lands.”
