Kateryna Chornovol23:23, 14.09.24

In Russia, they expect that in the summer of 2025 they will start having “all the problems,” says the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate.

The Russian Federation would like to end the war unleashed against Ukraine by the end of 2025 – beginning of 2026. Moreover, Moscow hopes to end it with its victory.

This statement was made by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kirill Budanov at the 20th annual YES (Yalta European Strategy) conference, which took place in Kyiv. According to him, the 2025 – early 2026 milestone is key for the Kremlin.

“They want to end all of this because, according to their own calculations, the Russian Federation, if they do not emerge from this war as conditional winners, they will fall out of the possibility of seeing Russia as a superpower, which is what they are striving for, in the distant, let’s say, future, which can be calculated – this is a horizon of 30 years,” he explained.

In Russia, they expect that in the summer of 2025 they will start having “all the problems.” Budanov noted that then both the financial-economic and socio-political factors will come together.

Now the Russian Federation is struggling with the worsening economic situation because it understands that the decline is already noticeable. However, the current situation is far from the peak.

“They predict that around the summer of 2025, the negative impact on the economy will begin to be very noticeable for their country. By the way, many processes are connected with this, which they are now trying to speed up in their country in order to get out of this period as much as possible, as they would like,” the head of Ukrainian intelligence continued.

In addition, the issue of shortage of troops in the army is becoming increasingly acute in Russia. Already in the summer of 2025, Moscow will face a dilemma – to declare a new mobilization or reduce the intensity of military actions, which could ultimately become critical for the enemy.

(C)UNIAN 2024