Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky used his airtime during Tuesday night's Golden Globes award ceremony to discuss with Hollywood's elite the possibility of a third world war.
"The First World War claimed millions of lives. The Second World War claimed tens of millions of them. There will be no third world war. It is not a trilogy," the Ukrainian leader told the 80th Golden Globes ceremony via video message.
Zelensky told the audience "it is already clear who will win," adding the "tide is turning" even though the war "is not yet over."
"I can tell you who was the best in the previous year. It was you in the free world, who united around support of free Ukrainian people," he told the gathered Hollywood stars.
Zelensky has appeared at a number of cultural events to speak about the progress of the Ukrainian war, including the Grammys on April 3, 2022, the Cannes Film Festival the following month, and the U.K.'s Glastonbury festival on June 24, 2022.
On October 13, 2022, Alexander Venediktov, the deputy secretary of Russia's Security Council, said if Ukraine was to be admitted to NATO, "such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to World War Three," according to TASS, as nuclear tensions flared.
Zelensky's address comes as Ukraine denies Russian reports that Moscow's forces have taken control of the embattled Donetsk town of Soledar.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern military command, Serhiy Cherevatyi, told Ukrainian TV that although there was a "complicated situation" in the eastern town, it was "not under the control of the Russian Federation."
"The intensity of battles near Bakhmut can be compared with World War Two," Cherevatyi added.
It came after the head of the notorious Wagner Group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, claimed in a statement posted on Telegram on Tuesday that the Kremlin-linked mercenaries had claimed the town.
"Units of the Wagner private military company have taken the entire territory of Soledar under their control. The city center has been surrounded, and urban warfare is under way. The number of captives will be announced tomorrow," the statement linked from Russian state outlet TASS said.
The Russian-backed official installed in the Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, told Russian state TV on Wednesday that Soledar's fall to Moscow's forces "paves the way for a turning point" in the war in the region.
Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov then said Russian forces had "blocked Soledar from the town's northern and southern parts" and were now "engaged in a battle in the town."
But despite reports from Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, who wrote on Tuesday that the "enemy does not pay attention to the large losses of its personnel and continues to actively storm" the town, the British Ministry of Defense suggested Soledar was likely to be claimed by the Russians.
"In the last four days, Russian and Wagner forces have made tactical advances into the small Donbas town of Soledar and are likely in control of most of the settlement," the government department wrote in an intelligence briefing on Tuesday.
The ministry added that the salt mining town, which Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky described as having "no whole walls left", was just 10km north of the regional city of Bakhmut, "the capture of which likely continues to be Russia's main immediate operational objective."
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Ellie Cook is a Newsweek security and defense reporter based in London, U.K. Her work focuses largely on the Russia-Ukraine ... Read more
