“A Difficult Situation Awaits”: Ukraine’s Intelligence Chief Warns of Tough Battles Ahead

Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov stated in an interview with the BBC that Ukraine is on the verge of encountering a challenging situation on the front lines in the coming future.

“A difficult situation awaits us. But it will not be catastrophic, let’s be clear,” Budanov told the BBC on April 19.

“There will be no Armageddon, as many are saying… We will not talk about it at length now, but there will be a difficult period. Mid-May, early June.”

The military intelligence chief asserts that he “doesn’t react” to the pessimistic moods of some West representatives who talk about Ukraine possibly losing the war this year: “If we are talking about scenarios being developed — in any case, there are, let’s say, positive scenarios for one side and negative scenarios for the other side. There is no grounds to believe in Ukraine’s strategic defeat,” Budanov asserts.

Russia is contending with the declining quality of military vehicles and other heavy hardware primarily because it relies on “repaired and restored equipment from warehouses designated for long-term storage.”

“As for the quality of the personnel: those who took part in the first phase of the full-scale invasion in 2022 were real professionals, contractors with combat experience. But since then, almost none of them are left. Russia is fighting with mobilized forces,” Ukraine’s military intelligence chief said.

According to Budanov, Russian morale has improved following their capture of Avdiivka, “but this was a temporary phenomenon.”

Budanov asserts that this war can be ended by returning to the borders of 1991: “The war will end. It will end with returning to the borders of 1991. We will have a certain period of quiet, possibly. There absolutely will be tension on the borders. But in fact, the war will end,” Budanov states.