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.”

  • @Nudding
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    -1011 months ago

    I dunno, I’ve heard people argue that we’re already in WW3, and that Putin started it years ago. I guess it all depends on what the history books of the future consider the smallest dominoes. Time will tell.

    • @WhiteHawk
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      911 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
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        411 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.

        • @WhiteHawk
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          411 months ago

          Yes, but neither were a world war, which was my point

          • RubberDuck
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            211 months ago

            I read it as you where implying it could escalate to worldwar and I tried to add 2 examples where this did not happen in previous occasions. Was not trying to start a fight :)

      • @Nudding
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        -211 months ago

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

        • @WhiteHawk
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          111 months ago

          Certainly possible, but in that case the US’s activities in the middle east couldn’t really be blamed

            • @WhiteHawk
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              111 months ago

              Because they did not cause the Ukraine war?

              • @Nudding
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                111 months ago

                Oh sorry, I thought you meant you can’t blame them for their actions, not the world war thing. I gotchu now.