The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, made an alarming forecast for the development of the war, the publication “Ukrainska Pravda“ reported.
“If serious negotiations do not begin by the summer (of this year), then very dangerous processes for the very existence of Ukraine may begin“, Budanov said during a closed session in the Rada.
Political leaders have invited representatives of the military command, including Budanov, who uttered these words with his cold smile, a source revealed.
Budanov's statement at a closed session in the Verkhovna Rada about the alleged need for negotiations before the summer was taken out of context. This was stated by the People's Deputy from the “Servant of the People” Oleg Dunda to “Kiev24” . “That is why there are closed committees so that information does not leak, especially if it is taken out of context, without understanding under what conditions it was expressed and for what purpose”, he pointed out. The People's Deputy noted that the meeting was closed, so the information should not have leaked.
After the inauguration of the new US President Donald Trump, real negotiations to end the war are expected to begin. So far, however, Washington has only sent messages to Moscow - without concrete proposals for a meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today that Moscow has not yet received any proposals from the United States to prepare for a possible meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his American counterpart Donald Trump.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that he believes that the new US President Donald Trump can end the war, but that he will be able to do so only if he includes Ukraine in the negotiations. "He can do this only with Ukraine, otherwise it will not work. Because Russia does not want to end the war, while Ukraine wants to", the Ukrainian leader said. Kiev announced that it would not recognize the territories occupied by the Russian army as part of the Russian Federation. Moscow, for its part, indicated that Ukraine must accept the new realities on the front.
Against this background, Forbes magazine reported that for the second time in a month, a newly formed brigade of the Ukrainian army disintegrated during deployment in the hot Pokrovskoye sector of the front. This is the 157th Mechanized Brigade. The newly formed brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, in particular the 155th and 157th Mechanized Brigades, are experiencing significant difficulties in deploying to the front line. The main reasons for this are insufficient training, a lack of experienced military personnel, and weak organization. The Russian army continues to advance slowly but steadily on the front, and to date has occupied nearly 1/5 of the territory of Ukraine.