Zelenskyy Says Putin Started World War Three

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy declared on Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has already initiated World War Three, urging intensified military and economic pressure to halt further territorial gains, as the conflict approached its fourth anniversary on Tuesday. The remarks, made in a BBC interview from Kyiv, came amid fresh Russian strikes in Ukraine's Odesa region that killed two people and ongoing diplomatic tensions that have stalled European Union aid to Kyiv.

Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine's resistance is preventing the war from escalating into a broader global conflict. "I believe that Putin has already started it," he said. "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." He rejected demands for Ukraine to withdraw from areas it controls in the eastern Donetsk region, describing such concessions as an abandonment of hundreds of thousands of residents that would fracture society. "What is land without people? Honestly, nothing," Zelenskyy added, insisting that victory for Ukraine means preserving its...