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Budanov: Russia has economic strength to fight until 2025

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Budanov: Russia has economic strength to fight until 2025
Head of Ukraine's Military Intelligence Kyrylo Budanov is seen in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, on July 8, 2023. (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said that Russia likely has the economic and technical capacity to continue its war against Ukraine until 2025 or 2026 in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda released on Oct. 12.

He suspected that Russia's human resources may last even longer.

The ammunition needs for both Ukraine and Russia currently surpass the amount that Ukraine's allies in the West and Russia's allies Iran and North Korea can effectively replenish, he added.

Despite Ukraine's much smaller population, Budanov emphasized that it was important not to underestimate Ukraine's human resources either.

"The opportunity for diplomacy will come when the war is over," he stressed. Negotiations would only be possible when Russia "leaves, or at least begins to leave Ukraine (and return) to the 1991 borders."

Any premature negotiations that would allow for Russia to retain some of the territory it currently illegally occupies would be a "betrayal of our people," Budanov said.

Budanov responds to CNN reports about Ukrainian drone strikes in Sudan
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Nate Ostiller

News Editor

Nate Ostiller is a former News Editor at the Kyiv Independent. He works on special projects as a researcher and writer for The Red Line Podcast, covering Eastern Europe and Eurasia, and focused primarily on digital misinformation, memory politics, and ethnic conflict. Nate has a Master’s degree in Russian and Eurasian Studies from the University of Glasgow, and spent two years studying abroad at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in Ukraine. Originally from the USA, he is currently based in Tbilisi, Georgia.

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