the ukies have admitted this to be so and now the russians are as well, which i'd assume means that we're officially in ww3;

A senior Russian official says the war in Ukraine is not a conflict between Moscow and Kiev, but a war with the US-led NATO military alliance, noting that the West is seeking to wipe his country from the political map of the world.

“The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kiev – this is a military confrontation between Russia and NATO, and above all the United States and Britain,” Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council, said in his remarks on Tuesday.

“The Westerners’ plans are to continue to pull Russia apart, and eventually just erase it from the political map of the world,” the close aide to the Russian president was quoted as saying by a local weekly newspaper, Argumenty i Fakty.

Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine in late February, saying that it was aimed at defending the pro-Russian population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against persecution by Kiev.

Patrushev’s remarks come as fighting reportedly rages on in Soledar and Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian officials, Russia has stepped up a powerful assault.

Reuters cited Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov as saying that fighting in Bahkmut and Soledar was “the most intense on the entire frontline”.........more..........