Citing the direct involvement of Russia's allies, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's former military commander in chief, said that World War III has officially begun.
"I believe that in 2024 we can absolutely believe that the Third World War has begun," Zaluzhnyi said Wednesday at Ukrainska Pravda's UP100 award ceremony, according to Politico.
"Because in 2024, Ukraine is no longer facing Russia," he said. "Soldiers from North Korea are standing in front of Ukraine. Let's be honest. Already in Ukraine, the Iranian 'Shahedis' [drones] are killing civilians absolutely openly, without any shame."
Zaluzhnyi added that North Korean and Chinese weapons are flying into Ukraine and called on Kyiv's allies to stand by the embattled country.
"It is still possible to stop it here, on the territory of Ukraine," he said. "But for some reason our partners do not want to understand this. 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."
Zaluzhnyi's speech at the award ceremony was reminiscent of his comments in an essay published by The Economist last year that reportedly enraged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. In his piece, Zaluzhnyi described the war as a stalemate similar to World War I.
Rising tensions between Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi over how the war should be fought, as well as the commander's growing popularity, led the Ukrainian leader to fire him in February, according to Politico.
The former general is now Ukraine's ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Zaluzhnyi was in command of Ukrainian forces when they successfully repelled Russia's initial attack on Feb. 24, 2022. He was also saddled with last year's failed counteroffensive.
Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, who is viewed as closer to Zelenskyy, replaced Zaluzhnyi as commander in chief of Ukrainian forces.
On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow launched a hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile attack on a Ukrainian military facility and warned the West that countries whose weapons were used against Russia could be next.
"In response to the use of American and British long-range weapons, on Nov. 21 of this year, the Russian armed forces launched a combined strike on one of the facilities of the military-industrial complex of Ukraine," Putin said.
"In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested, among other things. In this case, with a ballistic missile in a nuclear-free hypersonic equipment."
The Russian leader said the West was making the war in Ukraine worse by permitting Kyiv to use long-range missiles on Russia, adding that the conflict was becoming global in nature.
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