Negative impact of war expected to grow in Russia in late 2025 – Ukraine intel chief

The negative impact of the war is expected to grow in Russia at the end of 2025 or at the beginning of 2026, and then over the next 30 years, the country will cease to be a superpower.

The Chief of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, said this at the 20th annual meeting of the Yalta European Strategy, the Ukrainian intelligence agency reported on Facebook.

According to Budanov, these are Russia's calculations.

"If they do not come out of this war as self-professed winners by this time, then in the near future, about 30 years, they will lose the opportunity to be a superpower. Then two countries will remain: the United States and China. And the most that Russia can count on is regional leadership, which does not suit it," he said.

Moving the war to the territory of the aggressor country, including explosions at Russian military facilities, has an impact on the population of the Russian Federation, which supports the war against Ukraine and is used to feeling safe, believing that Russia is so powerful that nothing threatens it.

According to Budanov, with the first explosions in Moscow and across Russia, this myth was destroyed. This is the main achievement of all these long-range strikes.

Budanov noted the growing role of drones during the war and stressed that unmanned technologies and electronic warfare systems would continue to develop.

He said that the strong points of the Ukrainians were self-belief, motivation to fight for their land, and non-standard approaches to decisions, which the Russians did not have.

According to him, Ukraine is a country of opportunities.

"The more I live, the more I see it: everything is possible here. Thousands of drones were made from scratch. Who could have thought of this two years ago? Our strong point lies in our non-standard approach and belief that we can do anything. We are fighting for our land, and here we have no options," Budanov said.