Cross-posted from: https://feddit.de/post/9202260

Vladimir Putin will spark a third world war if the Russian president is allowed to declare victory in Ukraine, according to the boss of the country’s biggest private employer.

Yuriy Ryzhenkov, chief executive of Metinvest, which ran the sprawling Azovstal steelworks that became the site of a relentless Russian assault at the start of the 2022 invasion, warned of the consequences of a Kremlin victory.

“I don’t believe that if Ukraine fails, Putin will stop,” he said in an interview ahead of the two year anniversary of the war in Ukraine. “The Baltic states, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia are the next targets.”

  • WhiteHawk@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    It’s still a proxy war for now (even if only one side is using a proxy), I wouldn’t call that a world war

    • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      So where Vietnam and Afghanistan. Both great powers got their teeth kicked in and withdrew because the wars where no longer politically expedient.

      I imagine this is a bit more existential for Putin, but it is also more costly by an order of magnitude.

    • Nudding@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Could lead to escalations, which would in hindsight be a clear path to world war. Interesting discussion to be had for sure.