Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Major General Kirill Budanov, believes that in 2023 Russia will focus on the occupation of most of the territories of Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
He stated this in an interview with The Washington Post.
The resumption of an offensive from Belarus Budanov considers unlikely. According to him, such a step in the Kremlin can only indicate the intention to distract and divide the forces of the defense of Ukraine.
The head of the GUR added that “we must do everything so that by the summer Crimea will return home.”
to the question, does he believe that the entry of Ukrainian troops in the occupied Crimea will encourage Putin to use nuclear weapons, Budanov replied: “This is not true. And Crimea will be returned to us. I will tell you more: it all started in Crimea in 2014 and on everything will end this. “
The head of the GUR believes that the Russian Federation uses intimidation tactics.
“Russia is a country from which you can expect a lot, but not frank idiocy. Sorry, but this will not happen. Standing a nuclear strike will not only lead to the military defeat of Russia, but to the collapse of Russia. And they know it very well”, he said.
Budanov previously predicted that the war in Ukraine will end in the summer of 2023.