Ukraine will face decisive battles in the coming months, which will become a turning point in the war. This was stated in an interview with the Ukrainian Forbes by the head of the GUR, General Kirill Budanov.
According to Budanov, decisive battles await Ukraine from the middle to the end of spring.
“Yes, this is a turning point,” Budanov said, answering a clarifying question from a journalist about whether the fate of the war would be decided in these battles.
The head of Ukrainian intelligence also said that a major Russian offensive is already underway, but it is of such a quality that most are not even aware of it. And the goals of the Russians are no longer as ambitious as at the beginning of the war.
– The reality is that they set as their goal to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Lugansk regions by March 31. You feel the difference: take Kyiv in three days and someday reach some borders.
According to Budanov, there is a shortage of armored vehicles and shells in the Russian army.
– For two months, the Russian groups operating in our country have been living in the mode of maximum saving on ammunition. More or less normally, ammunition is now used exclusively in Bakhmut and in the Liman direction. They tried several times to storm Ugledar, and they will continue to try, this location has also been added. In all other areas – the mode of saving ammunition, – says Budanov.
He says that Russia is not able to urgently increase the production of tanks and missiles in the conditions of war and sanctions, and the production that is, does not cover the needs. Therefore, the Russian troops are forced to switch to other tactics – a large number of infantry and rifle battles.
Budanov says that Ukraine was able to survive because it defends its territory and the whole world helps it in this. The main victories in the war he calls the defeat of Russian forces in the Kiev direction, the liberation of the Kharkov region and Kherson.
At the same time, he stressed that the main condition for the end of the war for Ukraine is access to the administrative borders of 1991.
At the same time, Budanov admits that reaching the 1991 borders may not mean the end of the war.
– You can transfer the war to a completely different format, you can switch to a permanent defensive operation. A good example is Israel, which constantly lives in a state of war, conducts a defensive operation on its borders. Most likely, this will lead us to solving internal problems in the occupied territories that were previously occupied, this is a huge set of issues,” Budanov said.
Source : Зеркало
