Former Russian president raises specter of a World War III as rhetoric ramps up over Ukraine

Ex-Russian president Dmitry Medvedev raised the specter of World War III as the rhetoric between the White House and the Kremlin ramped up over the Ukraine war.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev raised the specter of a World War III on Tuesday, as the rhetoric between the White House and the Kremlin ramped up over the war in Ukraine.

Medvedev, now a top security official, was responding to President Donald Trump's post on Truth Social berating his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, as Moscow continued to rain strikes down on its neighbor.

“What Vladimir Putin doesn’t realize is that if it weren’t for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean REALLY BAD,” wrote Trump, who appears to be losing patience over the lack of a ceasefire deal, adding, “He’s playing with fire!”

Around three hours later, Medvedev took to X, writing, “I only know of one REALLY BAD thing — WWIII. I hope Trump understands this!”

This in turn drew an almost immediate rebuke from Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who called Medvedev’s remarks “reckless” in a post on X. Cautioning that Russia was stoking fears of another world war, Kellogg wrote that it was “unfitting of a world power.”