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Putin's Imperial Ambitions in Ukraine Threatens World War III

By Mike Woloshin

In 2005, Vladimir Putin characterized the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union as the "greatest geopolitical tragedy of the century." He also called it a tragedy for the Russian people, going beyond geopolitics:

•The loss of Russian superpower status and influence; the breakup of the Soviet Empire altered the world balance of power.

•It divided the Russian population, leaving tens of millions living outside Russian borders in independent states.

•It resulted in economic devastation, the transition from communism brought severe recession, destabilized finances, destroyed savings and caused widespread poverty.

•It disrupted social institutions, destroyed old traditional ideals, dismantled institutions, and created crises, such as wars in Chechnya and Ukraine.

In marking the distinction between regretting the loss of Russian history and strength and acknowledging that restoration of the Soviet Union was unrealistic and undesirable, he said: "Anyone who does not regret the passing of the Soviet Union has no heart; anyone who wants it restored has no brains."

In 2021, he again lamented the collapse of the USSR as the demise of historic Russia and a major humanitarian tragedy," revealed in the economic hardship of the era. In 2025, Putin stated that with the collapse of the USSR, the West took advantage of Russian weakness by deciding to live by the rules it set for itself and ignoring Russia's interests. His expression of grievance over the loss of great power status and the unity of the "Russian nation." He focused on instability and chaos following the collapse of the USSR, including "separatist movements," economic hardship and a rise in crime, rather than a desire to restore Soviet-era communism.

Russia is the last multi-ethnic empire on the European continent. All others, Spain, Portugal, France, and Belgium have collapsed as a result of movements for self-determination and independent statehood in Asia and Africa, particularly since the 1960s. The 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union accelerated those movements with the creation of the independent states including Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Ukraine. The residents of these former "Soviet Republics" are neither ethnic Russians nor do they desire to be part of a reconstituted Russia.

In 1994, under the Budapest Memorandum, the Yeltsin government recognized Ukrainian independence and agreed to respect Ukrainian sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity in exchange for Ukraine giving up its nuclear arsenal. Putin reneged on his government's agreement with the 2014 annexation of Crimea, followed by the February 24, 2022, invasion. Due to determined Ukrainian resistance, the Russian invasion expected to take three weeks, is now in its fourth year.

Putin's threat to start World War III comes not only from "nuclear sabre rattling," but also from launching drones on September 10 which flew far beyond Ukraine to land in Poland and Romania, both of which are NATO members able to invoke "Article 5" of the NATO Treaty ("an attack on one, is an attack on all"). NATO alliance nations have strengthened their Eastern front in response to increasingly aggressive Russian drone strikes. Polish and other NATO aircraft have deployed to protect NATO airspace due to threats of renewed airstrikes along the border with Ukraine. Romania has ordered its forces to shoot down unauthorized drones in its airspace.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy noted that: "Russian military personnel know exactly where their drones are headed and how long they can stay in the air. Their routes are always calculated. This cannot be an accident, a mistake, or the initiative of some lower level commanders. It is a deliberate expansion of the war by Russia. This is how they operate—small steps at first, and in the end great losses."

It appears that Putin is not waiting for the total conquest of Ukraine before he pushes his Imperial ambitions Westward toward Warsaw, Berlin, Paris and even across the Atlantic Ocean.

Mike Woloshin, AMH-2, USN, ATKRON 86, onbd USS Coral Sea (CVA-43), Vietnam (Yankee Station) 1969-1970. Mike is the grandson of Ukrainian immigrants, a retired Assistant Cook County Public Defender, and active in VVAW since joining in 1971.