"There will be major problems": Budanov reveals how much longer Russia plans to continue the war

If the war continues, the aggressor country will experience a significant deterioration in the economic situation in the summer of 2025. At least, this is what Russia believes, and therefore wants to end the war with "at least some conditional victory" by the end of 2025.

This was stated by Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, at the 20th Annual Meeting of YES. The intelligence officer emphasized that the problems that Russia will face next summer are "far from peak," so the end of 2025 and "the beginning of 2026 are key for them."

"They know this and want to end it all because according to their own calculations, if they do not emerge from this war as conditional winners, they will no longer be perceived as superpower for the foreseeable future (at least 30 years)," he said.

Budanov did not specify who exactly is making such forecasts and conclusions in Russia or who exactly will lead the country "to a conditional victory by the end of 2025." However, he noted that "all the problems that they will have in the summer of 2025" will be felt not only by the elite but also by the whole of Russia.

"They predict that starting in the summer of 2025, the negative impact on the economy will begin to be very noticeable for their country. This 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 a victory," Budanov said.

However, during this period, Russia will face an increasingly acute shortage of cannon fodder.

"They will face a dilemma: either to declare mobilization or to somehow reduce the intensity of hostilities," Budanov emphasized.

The DIU head added that the socio-psychological state of Russians has already been undermined. And it started back in 2023, when the first Ukrainian drones reached the city of Moscow. And now the morale of the Russians is being affected by the Kursk operation more than by the stories of their propagandists.

"It has changed their worldview. Before that, the entire Russian population lived in the paradigm that, no matter what, we are a very powerful country, the strongest in the world. But with the first explosions in Moscow and other territories of the Russian Federation, this myth was destroyed," the intelligence officer explained.

As reported, Ukraine is still waiting for permission from its allies to strike military targets deep in Russia. Kyiv has already submitted a list of targets to Washington.

The White House, meanwhile, said that dictator Vladimir Putin's threats that allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia would mean NATO countries' direct involvement in the war were not addressed to Americans or Europeans. It emphasized that they were made only for the Russian audience.

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