New Delhi: A day after Moscow suffered a stinging symbolic defeat with the loss of the flagship of its Black Sea fleet, Russia’s Defense Ministry promised to ramp up missile attacks in Kyiv.

Raising concerns across the globe, Russian state television has declared that World War III has already started after the sinking of its naval vessel Moskva in the Ukraine war. Though Russia said this was damaged after a fire, Ukraine claimed the credit of destroying the flagship vessel of Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet through its Neptune missile.
The sinking of the Russian ship has now led to the meltdown of the Kremlin’s main propaganda mouthpiece Russia 1. Presenter Olga Skabeyeva made a chilling statement and said ‘what it’s escalated into can safely be called World War-III’ and insisted ‘that’s entirely for sure.’

As Russia and Ukraine enter day 52 of the war, several parts of the war-torn country continue to be bombed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he discussed the fate of the besieged port city of Mariupol in a meeting on Friday with the country’s military leaders and the heads of its intelligence agencies.

Meanwhile, the United States believes that it is possible that the conflict in Ukraine may last through the end of the year, and is ‘doing its utmost’ to shorten it, State Department spokesman Ned Price told US media outlet CNN. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also told EU allies that the US believes Russia’s military operation in Ukraine may last through the end of 2022, US media reported.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk said on Friday that for, the first time since the start of its invasion, Russia used long-range bombers to attack the besieged port city of Mariupol.