"We are just one step away from the Third World War": Putin on Russia-NATO military conflict

Worlddesk:
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Monday that a direct conflict between Russia and the US-led NATO military alliance means the Earth is just one step away from World War III, but hardly today.  Nobody wants this kind of situation.  The Ukraine war has caused the deepest crisis in Moscow's relations with the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.  Putin has often warned about the dangers of nuclear war but says he never felt the need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
 French President Emmanuel Macron said last month that he could not rule out the deployment of ground troops in Ukraine in the future, even if many Western countries distance themselves from it.  Others, especially Eastern Europe and Ukraine, have expressed their support.  Asked by Reuters about Macron's comments and the risk and possibility of conflict between Russia and NATO, Putin quipped: "Everything is possible in the modern world."