Some prominent members of the political class have already claimed that world War III has started. Here is the first, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. The second one is from the US, former congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard. Both agree that a proxy war is already being fought, using the Ukraine, and that at any second this could escalate. Russian mouth pieces have been giving chilling warnings that the West is moving towards warranting a nuclear exchange, which is possible since Russia does not accept the Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) doctrine, but maintains, like communist China, that as limited nuclear war is winnable.
https://www.rt.com/russia/558970-vucic-wwiii-russia-ukraine/