- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he believes World War III may have already begun.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February.
- In an interview with NBC News host Lester Holt, Zelenskyy said "whole civilization is at stake."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there's a possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine could lead to the start of World War III.
"Nobody knows whether it may have already started. And what is the possibility of this war if Ukraine will fall, in case Ukraine will? It's very hard to say," Zelenskyy told "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt Wednesday. "And we've seen this 80 years ago when the second World War had started … nobody would be able to predict when the full-scale war would start."
On February 24, Putin launched a "special military operation" in Ukraine, prompting global concern that the newfound violence in Europe would lead to the third World War — nearly 77 years after the second ended.
Some — including former President Donald Trump — argue that if the US doesn't get involved, Putin's war on Ukraine could expand into World War III, while others — including President Joe Biden — are imposing economic sanctions and sending weapons to Ukraine instead of establishing no-fly zones over Ukraine in hopes to avoid global conflict.
A 36-year-old Ukrainian medic named Mila Makarova told Insider's Julia Beil and Nathan Rennolds, however, that the real war started in 2014 and that she didn't understand what the sudden concern was over risking World War III. She argued that, for Ukrainians, the war isn't new.
While Putin's end goal is unclear and the success of the Russian invasion remains in the air, Zelenskyy said in the NBC interview that "in this case, the whole civilization is at stake."
As of Tuesday, at least 726 Ukrainian were killed and nearly 1,200 injured in the Russian attack, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which estimates that the actual count could be much higher.