Budanov: “We’re approaching a landmark battle in Ukraine’s contemporary history”

In an interview with RBK-Ukraine, the chief of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry’s intelligence said that the current pace of Western weaponry supply does not make him revise his earlier projection – the turning-point battle before the end of this war will take place this spring.

“It absolutely does not. Like it or not, we’re approaching a landmark battle in the contemporary history of Ukraine. This is a fact, and everyone understands it. It’s a secret when it will start. But everyone understands we are getting closer to it,” said Gen. Kyrylo Budanov.

He agreed that if the future offensive operation fails to succeed sufficiently, the odds are that Ukraine’s partners will urge it to negotiate with Russia. However, he emphasized that the fate of Ukraine is in its hands. “Whoever urges us to do whatever, it’s up to us to decide.”

Budanov also said that he doubts the possibility that all Western countries will slow down or suspend their military aid in case of only a limited success of the offensive, adding that “besides, we still have something, and we’ve been running the war with it for more than a year.”

He refused to talk about the details of the Ukrainian offensive operation, noting only that “everyone is getting ready.”

“I think that during this operation, we’ll recover sufficient amounts of territory by force. In which directions, what exactly and how – I’ll refrain from telling this, I’m sorry.”

Budanov also called the coming of Ukrainian troops to the 1991 borders already this year an absolutely achievable task and stressed that the situation would not end without the return of Crimea. When asked whether Crimea will be the final, he answered, “If Crimea is the last to be taken, it will be the final. If Crimea is taken first, and Donbas has not been taken yet, then this will not be the final.”