The head of the Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, has told The Wall Street Journal that the Defence Forces will be able to launch a new offensive in 2025.
Budanov stressed that Ukraine needs sufficient support from its partners and successful defence in 2024 - under these conditions, a new offensive can be launched.
Earlier, the GUR chief also said that this year Russia would try to fully occupy Luhansk and Donetsk regions. He believes that the enemy has no strength for other tasks.
Budanov also warned that Moscow wants to "try to kill famous Ukrainians". The peak of this operation will come in the spring and will be accompanied by "powerful attacks" by Russians who will use any internal enmity in Ukraine.
Budanov recalled that Russia has already planned false flag operations against Ukrainian politicians to blame the Ukrainian authorities. The intelligence officer cited the recent statement by former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that French President Emmanuel Macron cancelled his trip to Kyiv because he was "afraid of being assassinated".
"The incident was part of a Russian operation. These are all elements of the same big idea," Budanov added.
Last December, Budanov said that Russia had no plans to wage war in 2025. He also called to be realistic about moving the war to the enemy's territory.