Putin’s World War III

Trump calls the Iran ceasefire a win. It isn’t. And until he sees Putin as the common enemy behind both wars, neither conflict ends. Make us preferred on Google Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied (COMBO) This combination of file photographs created on August 8, 2025, shows (From L) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Donald Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Photo by various sources / AFP) Content Share Facebook X (Twitter) LinkedIn Bluesky Email Copy Copied Flip Make us preferred on Google Facing a $4-a-gallon gasoline revolt at home, President Donald Trump climbed down from his ultimatum that he would destroy Iran’s “civilization.” He took an off-ramp by signing a two-week ceasefire. Washington billed this as a “victory,” but that’s untrue. Iran’s odious regime remains in power, aligns with Moscow, continues to bomb, will control the Hormuz Strait (allowing it to weaponize energy in the future), and won’t abide by a ceasefire until Israel ends its invasion of Lebanon. At the same time, Iran’s partner, the Kremlin, praised Tehran for signing the ceasefire deal, but refused to sign one with Ukraine, even though Russia is also losing, militarily and economically. Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official . In 2026, Ukraine opened a new front in its lengthy fight against Russia by deciding to destroy its oil export capacity, oil refineries, pipelines, ports, and tankers, which support its army, wars, and terrorism. Kyiv proposed a cease-fire to convince Moscow to stop murdering Ukrainian civilians and bombing schools, hospitals, and power plants. But no dice. As Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky said, Putin “already started World War III years ago in Ukraine.” The linkage between the wars in Iran and Ukraine is obvious to everyone except Trump. He loathes Iran’s Ayatollahs but admires Putin even though Moscow has lost over 50% of the territory it initially seized in 2022, has lost control of the Black Sea, lost half its navy to Ukrainian sea drones, and suffered more than 1.3 million casualties (25% killed) in a war that was meant to last weeks. Russia’s cash flow is so diminished that Putin recently asked oligarchs to contribute to the war effort personally. Putin is on the ropes because his military spring offensive was a complete flop. Its troops flooded into Ukraine’s state-of-the-art digitized battlefield, where drones identify and literally shred soldiers on camera. Ukrainian kill zones are currently reducing the number of Russia’s troops faster than they can be replaced. In March, 35,300 Russian casualties were reported, and Ukrainians aim to eliminate 50,000 per month. Ukraine’s military-industrial complex is world-class and helped eliminate much of its dependence on others. Zelensky has his own long-range missiles and drones, and recently began to arm the world’s only global alliance against Russia’s fascist and racist World War III. He and his team negotiate 10-year deals for technology and expertise with countries around the world, concentrating during the Iran War on supplying military tech and training to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Jordan. Ukraine is now a major security player with unmatched expertise in drones, missiles, robots, tactics, and battlefield tech tools. His “sales swings” through the wealthy Arab nations and others will more than match the €90 billion ($105 billion) in loans from the European Union to Kyiv that Hungarian leader Viktor Orban has blocked as a favor to Putin. Strangely, Trump – who only likes “winners” and not “losers” – backs Vladimir Putin, a sociopathic little man who nominally controls 11 time zones, a shrinking economy, and an inept military force. The reality is that Russia now circles the drain, thanks to the brain and brawn power of its “small and plucky” neighbor, who’s winning the war. Also notable is that Russia’s “friends” – energy-poor China and its ally Pakistan – were instrumental in getting Iran to the negotiating table for a ceasefire deal. Both are heavily dependent on Middle East oil, not Russian, and wanted the Hormuz opened. China is no Putin patsy but is mercantilist, not revanchist nor expansionist, so Beijing isn’t part of Vlad’s World War III. It is more interested in maintaining good trading relationships with the US and Europe. It may sell some parts and tech to Moscow, but it refuses to sign a long-term fossil fuel pipeline deal through Siberia. Russia is a global scourge and is behind both wars as well as Sudan’s carnage, other conflicts, and worldwide terrorism. In 1999, Putin launched his global war to recreate and extend the Soviet Union’s empire. Eurasia and Africa were his principal targets: In 1999, Moscow refused to pull troops out of Moldova; in 2008, it invaded Georgia; and in 2013, Putin created the  Wagner group mercenaries  that, as his principal weapon in hybrid wars around the world, stoked trouble around the world in Crimea, Sudan and the rest of Africa, the Middle East, then Syria and Libya in 2015. It also expanded into cyber warfare and disinformation operations, and in 2014 and 2022, he invaded Ukraine and sent troops to Belarus. Despite such murder and mayhem, Trump sucks up to Putin, and his ambivalence toward Ukraine is inexplicable given that it helped prevent Russia from invading the rest of Eurasia since 2014 and now protects Europe. Russia’s global war machine operates in the shadows and is behind most of the world’s strife. It is not a goose-stepping monolith, but a hidden Hydra with thousands of tentacles that reach worldwide and have grown for decades. Putin prefers to wage hybrid warfare and deploys mercenaries, rogue nations, and non-state players such as terrorists or political extremists to foment unrest and revolts. He weaponizes food and fuel and sabotages economies, elections, reputations, and industries. Russian operatives corrupt nations; torture, poison, or bribe individuals; kidnap children; take hostages, and launch cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns on an industrial scale. Such tactics have culminated in the major wars underway in Europe, the Middle East, and the most calamitous conflict in  Sudan . Internationally, there is no consensus that this is World War III. Instead, leaders haggle over next moves, play footsie with Putin, and debate whether to fund Ukraine’s struggle as opposed to Israel’s, as though the same Evil wasn’t behind all conflicts. Hopefully, both wars will conclude, and global tectonic plates will shift. Russian and Iranian armed forces will shrink. Iran will turn over its enriched uranium. Russia will be battered, sanctioned, and isolated until the war ends. And once Moscow loses or quits, Putin will no longer be its leader, and Russia will split along ethnic lines into many smaller nation-states. Its nuclear arsenal will be secured and dismantled. The United States and North America will be energy powerhouses. This will give them leverage over China, Asia, and Europe. Next month, China will sign a comprehensive trade, energy, and investment deal favorable to Trump. Europe will accept Ukraine as a member and either bridle or boot out Orban if he objects. The Middle East will take years to rebuild. It will also militarize, along with Europe, and become a ranking member of the Western Alliance that is needed to stop Putin’s global ambitions. Ukraine’s success and Zelensky’s outreach underscore that the fight against Russia and Iran is not only about two separate fronts. Ukrainians know this is World War III, and the world must too, if it is ever to be brought to a close. Reprinted from  [email protected]  – Diane Francis on America and the World. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.  Diane Francis is an award-winning columnist, bestselling author, investigative journalist, and television commentator. She writes twice weekly at  https://dianefrancis.substack.com/  and is Editor at Large with the National Post and Postmedia newspapers writing twice weekly. She is Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, Eurasia section, in Washington DC. She has written pieces for the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Daily Beast, Politico, Miami Herald and the New York Post. In addition she is a Distinguished Professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management and has been a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. In 1991, she became Editor of Canada's Financial Post, the first woman editor of a national daily newspaper in Canada, a position she held until the paper was sold in 1998.