Defense intel chief: battlefield situation difficult but no Armageddon expected

The top spy spoke in an interview for The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ukrinform reports.

Asked whether Ukrainian forces could stop the ongoing Russian offensive in the east, Budanov said: “The good news is that no Armageddon will emerge,” he told me. “The bad news is that the situation is quite difficult. It will remain like this for at least one month, and will not become easier.”

As the newspaper reports, Moscow is expected to put maximum military pressure on Ukraine ahead of the 75th anniversary NATO summit set to be held in Washington this July, and before the U.S. delivers more artillery shells and other critical supplies that were held up by Congress.

The Kremlin has been trying since the war began to take control of the entire eastern Donbas region. “We will do everything possible to prevent them, and to minimize the Russian successes,” Budanov said.

He recalled that Ukraine’s main goal remains to fully liberate Ukrainian territories seized by Russia. "We have no option but to get back what was occupied. Otherwise, the state of war will go on forever," Budanov explained.

Regarding the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine, he emphasized that it is now going faster than a few months ago, "but Ukraine’s needs are very high, which is why it has been strategically important for us to have the deliveries renewed. Still, there is a question of volume."

According to Kyrylo Budanov, Ukraine's response to Russia’s superiority in manpower is battlefield technology, in which Ukraine has become a global leader. This includes various types of unmanned systems and electronic warfare.

“Technologies will have quite a significant meaning in this war,” he predicted.

As the article emphasizes, technology is key to one of Budanov's most intensive projects: taking the war to Russia with long-range drones.

"I have been advocating this since the very first days of the war, saying openly that so long as the war is contained on our territory, it will not affect Russia. That is why since spring 2022, we have started to conduct significant operations on Russian territory, and we will go further the more resources we have for this. And Russia has started to feel it," he said.

"It is still not critical for Russia at this stage, but it has led to the situation when the average citizen in the European part of the Russian Federation for sure knows and feels that the war is ongoing and has experienced some of the explosions himself. It influences, even on a small scale now, their morale," Budanov believes.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Ukrainian-made Magura drones, operated by defense intelligence, have already been used to destroy several Russian ships and force them to relocate from Crimea.