‘Putin is not bluffing…we are heading for disaster’, Serbia’s president warns, as Poland says ‘threat of global conflict is real’

Serbia’s president has issued a stark warning about the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, claiming Vladimir Putin is “not bluffing” about the potential use of nuclear missiles.

According to Serbian publication Novosti, President Aleksander Vucic, who is one of Putin’s allies who claims to know the Russian leader “very well”, told reporters: “Don’t think that someone somewhere is bluffing, unfortunately no one he’s not bluffing and unfortunately we’re walking into an easy disaster.”

Vucic’s ominous comment comes after Ukraine carried out its first attack on Russian territory with a US-supplied long-range missile on Tuesday – just days after the Biden administration gave Kiev the green light despite fears it could escalate uncontrolled conflict.

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday there was a real risk of a global conflict after Russia fired an intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile at a Ukrainian city.

Putin said on Thursday the strike was a response to the US and Britain allowing Kiev to strike Russian territory with advanced Western weapons, a move he said gave the conflict “elements of a global character”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the Russian missile strike a further escalation following the deployment of North Korean troops on Russian soil.

“The war in the east is entering a decisive phase, we feel that the unknown is approaching,” Tusk told a conference of teachers.

“The conflict is taking on dramatic proportions. The last dozen hours have shown that the threat is serious and real when it comes to global conflict.

Poland, which borders Ukraine, Russia and Belarus, has been a leading voice calling for NATO members to spend more on defense and is itself allocating 4.7% of its gross domestic product to boost its armed forces in 2025 .

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not bluffing” when asked about the possibility of him using nuclear missiles

Russian President Vladimir Putin addresses the personnel and citizens of the Russian Armed Forces at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, November 21, 2024

A still image taken from a video provided by the press service of the Russian Defense Ministry shows a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile being launched as part of nuclear deterrent force exercises from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in the northwestern Arkhangelsk region Russia, October 29, 2024

Russia said on Thursday that a new US ballistic missile defense base in northern Poland would lead to an increase in the overall level of nuclear danger, but Warsaw said Moscow’s “threats” only strengthened the case for NATO defence.

Today, Ukraine’s former military chief warned that World War Three is already underway – with Vladimir Putin’s autocratic allies North Korea, Iran and China openly backing their forces on the battlefield.

Valery Zaluzhny, who is now Ukraine’s envoy to the UK, said at the UP100 award ceremony in Kiev: “I think in 2024 we can absolutely believe that World War III has started.”

The general said that starting this year, “Ukraine is no longer facing Russia. North Korean soldiers stand in front of Ukraine.