A former Ukrainian military leader said this week that World War III has officially started as Russian allies get more involved.

“I believe that in 2024 we can absolutely believe that the Third World War has begun,” former military chief Valery Zaluzhny said Thursday, Politico reports. He was speaking via video to the Ukrainska Pravda's UP100 award ceremony.

Zaluzhny is currently Ukraine’s envoy to the United Kingdom after having been fired as commander-in-chief last February over differences with President Volodymyr Zelensky about how the war should be fought and Zaluzhny's growing political popularity. 

"Because in 2024, Ukraine is no longer facing Russia. Soldiers from North Korea are standing in front of Ukraine. Let's be honest. Already in Ukraine, the Iranian 'Shahedis' are killing civilians absolutely openly, without any shame," said Zaluzhny, and that North Korean and Chinese weapons are flying into Ukraine. 

"It is still possible to stop it here, on the territory of Ukraine. But for some reason our partners do not want to understand this. It is obvious that Ukraine already has too many enemies. Ukraine will survive with technology, but it is not clear whether it can win this battle alone," he said.

Zaluzhny added that he believes that deep advances on the battlefield can't happen because of the technical evolutionary process that will end in 2027. "I estimate that this could happen sometime after 2027," he said. 

President Zelensky said that there is clear escalation and violence in the war, according to the New York Post, which says there are currently 10,000 North Korean troops in Moscow.