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One of Ukraine’s primary military objectives is to disrupt Russian logistics routes through temporarily occupied Crimea, which are essential for supplying Moscow’s Dnipro military grouping, Kyrylo Budanov has said.
According to UATV English, Budanov made the remarks in an interview with RBC-Ukraine.
“Our main task now is to cut off all of this southern logistics, because the supply lines for the Dnipro grouping pass through the territory of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and they are critically important,” Budanov said.
Addressing residents of occupied Crimea who consider the peninsula an integral part of Ukraine, Budanov acknowledged the hardships caused by strikes on Russian military infrastructure but stressed that the ultimate objective is the liberation of the peninsula.
“I understand that, alongside the successful strikes against the enemy, people also face personal hardships. It is a fact that there is a shortage of gasoline. There are major power outages and, quite often, interruptions to the water supply, which are mostly a consequence of electricity disruptions. But all of these inconveniences serve a greater purpose, and that greater purpose is bringing Crimea back home,” he said.
According to Budanov, the increased intensity of Ukrainian strikes has become possible thanks to the rapid expansion of domestic defense production.
“The breakthrough is in quantity. Our domestic production has reached a level that allows us to significantly increase the intensity of operations. And greater intensity makes it possible to achieve concrete results,” he said.
Budanov noted that Ukraine has long sought to disrupt Russian logistics by various means, but advances in military technology have significantly improved its ability to do so.
“Now, with the rapid development of technology—which everyone can clearly see—it has become easier for us to do this. Taken together, this will certainly help us. At the moment, we simply have no alternative,” he said.
He also described the growing number of Russian strikes against Ukrainian fuel stations, particularly in frontline regions, as “a major problem” and said measures are being taken to address it.
At the same time, Budanov said he sees no indications of an emerging fuel shortage in Kyiv.
Earlier, a fire was reported near a major electrical substation and a railway station in the town of Saky in temporarily occupied Crimea, following Ukrainian strikes on Russian military infrastructure. President Volodymyr Zelensky has also stated that Ukraine’s defense industry has reached a level of advanced weapons production that could eventually surpass Russia’s capabilities.
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