UKRAINE has given Vladimir Putin a major headache by dragging Iran towards the Ukraine war and giving Donald Trump a reason to tighten the screws on Moscow.
Kyiv’s in the Caspian Sea sparked threats from Tehran that may see two conflicts collide.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could secure a WW3 style showdown to defeat Russia, experts say Credit: AP
Ukrainian drones strike a Russian shadow fleet tanker in the Sea of Azov earlier this month Credit: East2West
As opposing allies become drawn into the conflict, experts say Volodymyr Zelensky could seal a World War Three-style showdown to defeat Putin.
Ukraine’s attack on Iran targeted a supply line that the Kremlin has used to import lethal Shahed suicide drones and missiles from the pariah state since 2022.
It marked the first direct clash between the two nations since Russia‘s invasion.
Iran claimed that the vessel was purely commercial and vowed to respond – declaring that the “hostile and criminal” strike “cannot go unanswered”.
A view of a pier on a coast of the Caspian Sea near the city of Noshahr, 96 miles north of Tehran Credit: Getty
Russian President Vladimir Putin has been feeding Iran intelligence to strike US military bases in the Gulf Credit: AP
But the move could position Ukraine as an ally to Trump in a shadow war against the anti-Western axis.
Foreign policy experts say it could be a high-risk strategy from Zelensky to convince the US president to tighten the screws on Putin.
Dr Richard Arnold, an Eastern European security expert, told The Sun: “Ukraine wants to be in Trump’s good books.
“Trump has shown a lot of frustration with allies who have not come to his aid and it appears Zelensky’s almost trying to say, ‘look, we’re the better partner than your Nato partners.'”
Dr Arnold suggested that Ukraine may be positioning itself as an anti-Iran shield.
Zelensky is “trying to build up the image of Ukraine as the Israel of Eastern Europe,” he said.
Since the outbreak of the Iran war, Kyiv has provided the US with technical expertise to counter the Iranian Shahed drones – weapons that Russia has used extensively to attack Ukrainian cities.
Professor Mikhail Alexseev, a political science expert at San Diego University, said it is a calculated move to drum up support in Washington.
The aftermath of a Russian ballistic missile attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine Credit: Getty
Zelensky has been desperate to bolster its rapidly-depleting stockpile of interceptors Credit: Getty
He told The Sun: “For Ukraine, it’s very important to have the United States on its side. Ukraine needs to show Trump that it has the cards.
“This is one of the cards – that it can help the United States prevail in achieving objectives in Iran, with having its nuclear program suppressed and ensuring security in the Strait of Hormuz.”
After attacking the Iranian ship, Zelensky revealed that Russia has been feeding Tehran satellite intelligence to strike American military bases in the Gulf.
He said: “There is a clear correlation between Russia’s satellite imagery of these sites and Iranian strikes – both before the attacks, in preparation for them, and afterward, to assess the damage inflicted.”
The Ukrainian leader promised to share the intel with Washington – but made a point of aligning the US and Ukraine’s ambitions.
He said: “None of us in the world should turn a blind eye to one very simple fact: evil always seeks ways to make things worse and spread further.
“Russia must be stopped. This war must be stopped. Pressure on the aggressor must work.”
Zelensky’s bid to win over the White House appears to have been paying dividends.
Russia has been heavily modifying Iranian Shahed drones
A thick plume of smoke rises from Kuwait – where US bases are stationed – from an Iranian strike Credit: AFP
At the Nato summit in Ankara, Trump said he would grant Ukraine the game-changing licence to build state-of-the-art Patriot missile interceptors.
It may prove decisive in dismantling Putin’s last major advantage – Russia’s missile capabilities – with Zelensky claiming the “battle in the sky” will be key to winning the war .
Ukraine has been desperate to bolster its rapidly-depleting stockpile of interceptors amid a slew of deadly ballistic missile attacks on Kyiv.
But the growing alignment between Washington and Kyiv could prompt Putin to pile more support behind Iran and deepen the conflict.
Arnold said: “It gives Russia a powerful incentive not to let Iran fail. That’s how this war becomes almost unstoppable.”
He warned that “escalation of the conflict is far more likely than resolution”.
It comes after Nato scrambled fighter jets after a Russian Kh-101 missile smashed into Poland this week.
Washington previously warned that to test the international alliance – as it .
Zelensky and Trump meet during the Nato summit in Ankara Credit: AFP
The US said it would gift Ukraine the licence to build Patriot air defence systems domestically Credit: AP
Alexseev said that the conflict has been moving in the direction of an all-out global war for some time.
He explained: “Russia’s war against Ukraine has been not just a small regional war, but a much broader international conflict from the get-go.
“We have seen the way that Russia aligned its forces, counting on economic support from India and China, on military support with Shahed drones and ballistic missile technology from Iran, with troops and artillery ammunition from North Korea.
“Wars, particularly involving great powers, rarely can be contained on a regional scale.”
As the Ukraine and the Iran wars collide, experts fear allies on both sides could be dragged into World War Three.
Alekseev said: “We’re moving into the kind of environment where conflict is normalised, everybody retaliates, nobody takes a step back, and we’re approaching the kind of conditions that led to larger wars in the past.”
Arnold warned: “There are a lot of voices, unfortunately, saying we are in what is called the pre-war period.
“Scholars have been noting for some time how similar the world of today looks to the world before World War One.”
Nato troops simulating a Russian invasion Credit: Getty
Nato trains storming Baltic beach to deter Russia Credit: Reuters
Meanwhile, the strain on Putin’s weakening war machine has backed the dictator into a corner.
Kremlin Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the country is enduring a “very difficult period”, and Putin recently made the rare admission that the country is “struggling” with an energy crisis.
Dwindling manpower has seen Moscow deploy 30,000 North Korean troops and parliament allow even the most hardened criminals to be drafted.
Arnold said: “Russia is facing a manpower problem, simply because it hasn’t got enough people to power its industries and fight the war in Ukraine.”
Russia has suffered 1.4 million casualties since invading Ukraine in 2022, including an estimated 500,000 deaths.
A report last month showed that the average life expectancy for .
Zelensky warned that after September’s elections and Moscow struggles to sustain the war effort.
The move may be a response to the recent at key Russian infrastructure over the summer.
Zelensky said Putin will only end the fighting once he is beaten.
The Ukrainian president told Sky News : “What we tried to do to make this challenge also for Russians; otherwise, they will not feel that the war is everywhere…
“That’s why we started to do everything to respond and to bring this war back to Russia, where it came to us… and that’s why we started our mid-strikes and deep-strike operations, just to respond.”
Alexseev stressed that while cracks are appearing on the Russian front, Ukraine’s Western allies must do far more to force Putin to backtrack.
He said: “Putin is very stubborn and Russia is a big, resourceful, rich country. The pressure signals moves in the right direction, but it’s not yet enough.
“A lot more has to be done, both in terms of supporting Ukraine with greater capabilities and in terms of repositioning globally against Russia.”
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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