Today at 22:40
Russia will not stop in achieving its strategic goal because it lacks Ukraine for the existence of its empire, says Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.
According to Ukrinform, this is stated on the DIU website.
During a discussion at the Yalta European Strategy conference, Budanov emphasized that in the Russian understanding, three states are needed for the existence of an empire – Russia itself, Belarus and Ukraine.
“Ukraine is missing – without it, the existence of the Russian empire is impossible. Therefore, it will not stop,” Budanov emphasized.
According to him, Russia understands that it is unrealistic to quickly achieve a strategic goal by military means.
“I will not say some incomprehensible things about Russia failing, about everything being bad, it is not so. They are moving forward. This movement is not so significant, not enough to quickly achieve the strategic goal. That’s why they need a pause,” Budanov said.
“They need to restore their strength, to do “work on mistakes”, to try to destabilize the situation here inside to the end, and then they will have a new window of opportunity to achieve their strategic goal,” Budanov explained.
He emphasized the crisis of international law: it “failed to prevent war crimes in the center of Europe.”
“Terrible things are happening in the geographical center of Europe. People are being forcibly resettled. People living under occupation. There are millions of them. Hundreds of thousands of people are suffering from the war. Wounded, killed, tortured. Concentration camps exist. All this exists. Yes, they (the Russians) do not call them ‘concentration camps’ – they are just prisons, but the same thing happens in them,” Budanov emphasized.
“How many people died in captivity. These are huge numbers. Every day, missile and drone strikes kill ordinary people. There is a small percentage of military there. Look at the targets where they arrive – what military targets can there be in a kindergarten or a shopping center? This is all happening in the center of Europe. For three years, everyone has seen the full-scale process, for 11 years, everyone has seen it happening. So where is international law? Is it sleeping? Or maybe it never existed?” Budanov asked.
As Ukrinform reported, Budanov said at the forum “Ukraine. The Year 2025” forum, Budanov said that Russia cannot achieve its strategic goal of capturing Ukraine, so it resorts to intimidation – missile and drone attacks.
