Kiev, 23 February 2026 (dpa/MIA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that he believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has already begun" World War III, in an interview with British broadcaster BBC.

Speaking in Kiev over the weekend ahead of the fourth anniversary of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday, Zelensky said that his view of the conflict is different from that of US President Donald Trump.

"We have different views regarding a third world war," Zelensky said in the interview, translated from Ukrainian into English by the BBC and published late on Sunday London time. "I believe that Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him."

Zelensky went on to say that "Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life and change the lives people have chosen for themselves. Therefore, I believe and have long believed, that Putin has already begun this war and we're preventing it from becoming a broad full-scale third world war."

The Ukrainian leader also said he is counting on reliable security guarantees from the United States for his country that do not depend solely on the will of the US president.

"As presidents, we have fixed terms," Zelensky said when asked if he trusts Trump. "We want guarantees for 30 years for example. Congress is needed. Presidents change, but institutions stay."

Zelensky also stressed that, in the long term, the aim was to recapture all the territories occupied by Russia since the beginning of the war and return to the borders of Ukraine established in 1991, the year of its independence.

This was only a matter of time but was not possible at present, he said.

"To do it today would mean losing a huge number of people, millions of people because the Russian army is large and we understand the cost of such steps. We would not have enough people," the Ukrainian leader said. "And we also do not have a sufficient amount of weapons. That depends not only on us but on our partners."

Zelensky once again categorically rejected the cession of further territories in the Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions, which Russia has not been able to completely conquer.

"I don't look at it simply as land. I see it as abandonment - weakening our positions, abandoning hundreds of thousands of our people who live there. That is how I see it. And I am sure that this 'withdrawal' would divide our society."

In the interview Zelensky, whose initial term in office has expired, left open whether he would run for the presidency again in any new elections. In any case, reliable security guarantees would be needed before such a vote to prevent manipulation of the election and to protect Ukraine permanently from Russian annexationist ambitions, he said.

Putin, who ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, has repeatedly stated since 2024 that Zelensky is no longer legitimate due to his expired term.

Kiev, however, points to martial law, which prohibits elections during wartime, thereby extending Zelensky's term. Internationally, Zelensky is still recognized as the Ukrainian president.

Photo: dpa