Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev raised the specter of 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,” Trump, who appears to be losing patience over the lack of a ceasefire deal, wrote, 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.”
Trump, he added, has been working towards brokering a truce in the war that entered its fourth year in February and has claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov appeared to play down the tension during a press briefing Wednesday, where he thanked Trump “personally” for his efforts. But he said “at the same time there are a lot of nuances based on the national interests, which cannot be sacrificed and which neither side will sacrifice.”
While Putin has never raised the specter of world war, he has broached the use of nuclear weapons on several occasions since he launched his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
In a speech in Moscow’s Red Square last May, the Russian leader vowed to stand firm against attempts by Ukraine’s western allies to contain Russia. “We will not let anyone threaten us,” he said. “Our strategic forces are always at combat readiness,” he added referring to Russia’s arsenal of nuclear weapons, the world’s largest.
Trump, who promised on multiple occasions to end the war within 24 hours of taking office, has found the reality much different since beginning his second term, while offering mixed messages about Putin.
Trump has praised Putin as a strong leader with whom he can do business with and the pair exchanged a friendly, if fruitless, phone call last week. Shortly afterward, he announced that Russia and Ukraine would “immediately start negotiations towards a ceasefire.”
But as Putin has stalled on the peace talks, Trump’s frustration appears to have grown with the Russian leader, who he called “crazy” in a post on Truth Social Sunday after Moscow launched widespread strikes on Ukraine. The Kremlin dismissed his comments as “emotional overload.”
Russia previously said it was working on a memorandum of understanding outlining Moscow’s demands as part of the negotiations with Kyiv. But on Tuesday, Kellogg said the U.S. was still awaiting “receipt of RU Memorandum (Term Sheet) that you promised a week ago.”
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said in a statement the Kremlin was continuing to draft that memorandum and it would include a timeline for a peace agreement and potential ceasefire scenarios.
She added that this would be sent to Ukraine, which has previously rejected Russian demands that it never join NATO, accept permanent “neutrality” between Moscow and the West and cede its demand for four territories in the east of the country that Russia illegally annexed months after the war began.
Inside Ukraine, Russian forces continue their slow grind forward on the battlefield. Ukrainian officials said one person was killed and more than two dozen injured by ballistic missile strikes across the country overnight.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with Germany’s news Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Wednesday, his office said in a statement.
The two leaders are expected to discuss Kyiv’s readiness to respond to Russian strikes and threats, including increasing the production of drones and missiles, Zelenskyy said in his overnight address Wednesday.
It comes after Merz said Tuesday that his government would lift all range restrictions on weapons it sends to Ukraine, allowing Kyiv to defend itself by attacking military positions deep into Russia.
Peskov called Merz’s decision “extremely dangerous,” adding, “all this in a big way goes against the peace efforts, against the peace process that is beginning and is still in a very fragile state.”
