Putin Raises Threats of World War III as Ukraine Fights Back

As Russia continues its invasion in Ukraine with increasingly concerning threats, the worldwide fear of global conflict continues.

After illegally annexing regions of southern Ukraine, Russia has launched missile attacks on Ukrainian cities in retaliation for the intentional explosion on the Crimean Bridge in early October, an attempt to sever Russia's link on the Crimean peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin has even gone as far to threaten members of NATO with nuclear action.

The hits being made on Ukrainian cities and infrastructure are self-detonating Iranian ‘Shahed-136’ drones. This violates the nuclear agreement Iran has with the U.S. government by evading the routine inspections that they have agreed to in order to supply Russia with drones. It also implicates their involvement in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

When asked if these drone strikes would elicit a response from NATO, Petaluma High’s world history teacher Brian Granados said, “It already has…We already have anti-drone counter weapons in there. We’ve given them the intelligence to create anti-drone defenses just from makeshift materials.”

As of late October, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu has been accusing Ukraine of planning to use a “dirty bomb,” a radiological weapon that has radioactive material in conventional explosives. This would lead to an escalation in conflict, but not necessarily from Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine has denied these accusations and claims that it is possible that Russia is the one planning to deploy a “dirty bomb” in a false flag attack, meaning that Russia will make look like the bomb came from Ukraine. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg of NATO has stated his support, affirming that these accusations are “absurd.”

Stoltenberg has previously stated that if Russia takes any nuclear action against Ukraine, there will be severe consequences.

Also in late October, Russia held its annual Grom exercises. These exercises involve large-scale maneuvering of nuclear forces such as practice missile launches. The Russian government has alerted the U.S. of this event and there is no evidence of a nuclear deployment cover up yet. Any nuclear activity will surely elicit allies to finally take military action.

NATO members Britain, France and the U.S. have met to discuss this potential escalation and issued a joint statement saying that they will continue to support Ukraine throughout the duration of this war.