Gillibrand: US 'trying very hard' to avoid starting World War III

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand explained how the United States is attempting to prevent World War III Wednesday on "Special Report."

SEN. GILLIBRAND: Right now, NATO and the United States are responding aggressively to Putin's actions. They have put together the most crippling sanctions certainly I've ever seen, and we intend to increase them. We are creating a chokehold around Putin and the elites and oligarchs that stand him up with not only economic sanctions, but actually taking away their apartments, yachts, homes, their wealth to try to create internal pushback on Putin. We've also stayed united. NATO and our allies have created a united front. 

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The question is when [Russians] respond to our support of Ukraine, we will have to determine if any attack they do does rise to the level of a declaration of war against the United States. We are trying very hard to avoid the start of World War III because if and when that ever happens, that will result in the loss of millions of lives. And we are trying everything we can to help Ukraine push back Russia's ambitions and to win that war on the ground. And no one would have ever thought Ukraine could last as long as they have, but they have because they have a fight to win. They have a will to win and a fight in their bellies that is not going to be deterred. So we are going to fund them. We are going to help them with [a] humanitarian response. We're going to give them weaponry. And hopefully through the support of us and the NATO allies, they can hold and stand firm. 

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