Russia wants to end the war in Ukraine by 2026 - Budanov

Russia would like to end the war by 2026 with a victory. Because in the summer of 2025, it will face serious economic problems and will need to mobilize.

This was stated by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov, RBC-Ukraine reports citing Interfax-Ukraine.

“2025 is a key year for them, the turn of the 25th - the beginning of the 26th. They want to end it all, because according to their own calculations, if Russia does not emerge from this war as conditional winners, they will fall out of the possibility of seeing Russia as a superpower, which they aspire to, for the distant, let's say, calculable future, which is a horizon of 30 years,” he said.

According to him, Russia predicts that “all their problems will begin in the summer of 25,” as both the financial and economic factors and the socio-political factor will combine.

“But this is far from the peak. They predict that around the summer of '25, the negative impact on the economy will begin to be very noticeable for their country. This, by the way, is connected with a lot of processes that they are trying to speed up in their country to maximize the outcome of this period as they would like. Unfortunately, they would like to end with their victory,” Budanov added.

In addition, according to the head of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, the issue of recruitment to the army is becoming more and more acute in Russia.

“During this period (summer 2025 - ed.), they will face a dilemma - either to declare mobilization or somehow to reduce the intensity of hostilities, which may be critical for them in the end,” Budanov stated.

Author - Dmitriy Levchenko, 16/09/2024