Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal visited Washington on Wednesday (Apr. 17) to urge US lawmakers to approve the security assistance package for his country as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine or face the risk of a Third World War.
"We need this money yesterday, not tomorrow, not today," he exclusively told the BBC. "If we will not protect... Ukraine will fall. So the global system of security will be destroyed... and all the world will need to find... a new system of security."
"Or, there will be many conflicts, many such kinds of wars, and in the end of the day, it could lead to the Third World War."
The warning was not the first time a hypothetical Third World War was mentioned if the Ukrainians were defeated.
Last year, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a similar warning to the West, saying that a Russian victory could mean that Poland—a NATO nation—could be next, triggering Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and a Third World War.
However, Kremlin officials have ridiculed such claims as Western scaremongering. Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed suggestions that Russia might one day attack Eastern Europe as "complete nonsense."
In Wednesday's interview, Shmyhal was asked about a recent claim by Republican House foreign affairs chairman Michael McCaul that members of his own party were being "infected" by Russian propaganda.
"We should understand that disinformation and propaganda is influencing here in the United States on many people, in European Union on many people, such as in Ukraine," he replied.
Opposition from the Republican party has blocked potential assistance to Ukraine for months, with some lawmakers instead insisting on prioritizing US taxpayer money to support the security of the US-Mexico Border.
Conservatives have also dismissed any suggestion that they peddled the Kremlin agenda as smear attempts.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Wednesday that he would sign the package deal into law immediately once passed by Congress "to send a message to the world: We stand with our friends."
Ukraine is critically dependent on weapon supplies from the US and the West to keep fighting Russia, which has superior numbers and an abundance of artillery ammunition, the BBC reported.
Ukrainians were forced to abandon their positions in Avdiivka in February. Zelenskyy blamed the city's fall to an "artificial deficit of weapons" as he made urgent appeals for more military aid to avoid a "catastrophic" situation, while Biden cited "dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction."
Meanwhile, Gen. Sir Richard Barrons, former commander of the UK's Joint Forces Command, recently expressed fear that a Ukrainian defeat could happen this year unless it is given the weapons and ammunition it needs to secure its lines.
"We are seeing Russia batter away at the front line, employing a five-to-one advantage in artillery, ammunition, and a surplus of people," he said. "Ukraine may come to feel it can't win. And when it gets to that point, why will people want to fight and die?"
