The fighting in Ukraine is currently at a stalemate, with neither side making significant progress and Kyiv waiting for better weapons from the West, BBC reported.
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, told the BBC that everything has stopped and there is no movement in one direction or the other.
In November, Ukrainian troops liberated Kherson, and since then the fiercest fighting has been taking place around Bakhmut. Elsewhere, the Russian army is taking defensive positions, while winter weather has slowed Ukrainian forces’ ground operations along the roughly 1,000-kilometer-long front line. Off the battlefield, Russia has been shelling Ukraine’s critical infrastructure since mid-October, leaving residents in the dark and cold. Budanov indicated that while the firefights would likely continue, they would be weaker as Russian reserves were depleted. Iran has acknowledged supplying Russia with drones but is hesitant to supply missiles. Budanov said Tehran is aware of the possible consequences and is already feeling the impact of sanctions on its nuclear program.
«We can’t defeat them in all directions comprehensively. Neither can they. We’re very much looking forward to new weapons supplies, and to the arrival of more advanced weapons,»
said Budanov.
In December, after several setbacks for the Russian army, Ukrainian officials warned of a possible attack from Belarus. Budanov, however, dispelled these concerns and pointed out that Russia’s actions in Belarus are attempts to divert attention and get Ukrainian soldiers to be moved from the battlefields in the south and northeast of Ukraine.
Russia has used Belarus as a launching pad for attacks, but Budanov believes that the Belarusian public will not support its further involvement in the war, and experts also question the readiness of the Belarusian army.
The war has now slowed down, but the head of the intelligence agency is sure that Ukraine will regain all the territories currently occupied by Russia, including Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Budanov sees Ukraine after the war with the full territory, as it was after the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
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