Russia-Ukraine war news – World War III has already begun, experts warn as Zelenskyy blasts Putin’s attacks on civilians

WORLD War III has effectively already begun with Russia and the West now locked in a battle for existence, experts have warned.

Although the world’s forces are not yet engaged in all out war on the battlefield, economic, cyber and political warfare is already raging, with only the tiniest escalation threatening to tip us all into physical conflict.

Sky News Security and Defence Editor Deborah Haynes said Ukraine is already “a proxy battlefield in a much wider contest between Western, liberal democracies and the world’s authoritarian regimes”.

She said Putin was right to consider unprecedented Western sanctions upon him as “akin to declaring war”, adding “The key question is whether the two sides have the restraint and/or desire to keep this wider conflict beneath the threshold of a full-blown military one.

Meanwhile Ukrainian MP Alexey Goncharenko told Fox News that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked the beginning of World War III as it represents an unprovoked attack on a free world.

“The World War III already started. If somebody doesn’t see it, it’s their problem… It’s war, not against Ukraine, but against the whole free world,” he said.

And last week Ukrainian journalist Daria Kaleniuk made an impassioned plea for Boris Johnson to do more to help her country, saying “Nato is not willing to defend because Nato is afraid of World War Three but it’s already started and it’s Ukrainian children who are there taking the hit.”

Follow our Russia-Ukraine live blog below for up to the minute updates…

* Read the full story...This article was originally published h

Who will be Next to leave the EU? Check out who is leading in our exclusive poll Poll