Threat of global war ‘serious and real,’ Poland’s Tusk warns

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Friday that there is a “serious and real” threat of global war after this week’s major escalation in the conflict in Ukraine.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine “is entering a decisive phase,” Tusk said in a speech to the Polish Teachers’ Union. “We all know it, we feel that the unknown is approaching. None of us knows the end of this conflict, but we know that it is taking on very dramatic dimensions at the moment,” he added.

“The events of the last few dozen hours show that this threat is really serious and real in terms of a global conflict,” Tusk said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed early Friday that Moscow fired a new intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile into Ukraine on Thursday in response to Kyiv’s use of advanced weapons provided by the United States and the United Kingdom earlier this week.

Responding to Putin’s announcement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia’s decision was a sign of “how scared” the Kremlin is of Kyiv.

The Polish prime minister is not the only one to see the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine in ominous terms. A top U.K. military chief said on Thursday that Britain’s armed forces would be ready to fight the Russian army “tonight” if Putin invades another Eastern European nation.

Ukraine’s former military commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, said on Thursday that “we can absolutely believe that the Third World War has begun,” as Russia is being helped in its war by soldiers from North Korea, drones from Iran and weapons from China.