Kyrylo Budanov Quotes

In Russian dreams, they have occupied all of Ukraine, and in our dreams, we have a victory parade … into Moscow.

The only thing I can say is that Ukraine will be forever grateful for all the assistance that’s been provided to Ukraine. And the victory over the Russian Federation will be the same extent an American victory. It will be the same for Ukraine and America together. It will be our joint victory.

Those who think they are tired of Ukraine abroad will have to court Russians when they come to occupy their own territories.

In terms of their economy, Russia can afford this war without significant problems until 2025. In terms of their military equipment, they can manage until 2026 at most. Perhaps a bit sooner, as the pace of equipment recovery they're going through right now is not that high. So, we're looking at around 2025. In terms of human resources, it's clear that they have enough for a long time. But, regardless of what anyone might say, if we assess our human resources in aggregate, there's enough on our side too. Our country is not that small.

What escalation are we talking about if absolutely all types of weapons are used; from submarines to strategic bombers? We need to change the logic: not everything is in the hands of the Russian Federation, and not everything is in the hands of other players on the world stage, something depends on us.

Unfortunately, the Russian Federation knows how to work with the information space. That is why any event — imagine a rocket that falls into the Kremlin — they will show it as a victory for Russia. They will claim that they’ve prevented the biggest catastrophe to mankind by having that rocket fall into the Kremlin, that this missile has actually demolished the building it was supposed to and has even helped them. It sounds like a joke, but indeed, Russian society is accepting of such stupidities.

The Russians would be very happy to freeze everything how it is now. To have us recognize the territory they've taken as Russian. And they would celebrate their victory. It will never happen.

Drones will never replace ground troops. It is only a way to support them. With the help of a drone you can inflict losses on the enemy. But until, like in medieval times, a soldier comes and plants a flag, nothing will change.

Like it or not, we’re approaching a landmark battle in the contemporary history of Ukraine. This is a fact, and everyone understands it. It’s a secret when it will start. But everyone understands we are getting closer to it.

Sometimes it’s necessary for me to be with my people to motivate them. I’m not taking excuses for why someone can’t do something. That’s why the task will always be accomplished.

Ukraine is now the guarantor of security, in fact, for the whole of Europe. And this is true without exaggeration. Let's put it this way. All of Eastern Europe understands this absolutely clearly. There are different opinions further, but what concerns Eastern Europe, everyone agrees on this. And in fact, why is everyone trying so hard to help Ukrainians in every possible way? Because if it somehow happened that Ukraine would have fallen, they would be next. And I'm sorry, but the capabilities of these countries are in no way comparable to Ukraine. Everything would be much worse there.

Everyone is waiting for a certain moment when, let's say, the tower of the Kremlin, which advocates a unanimous war, figuratively speaking, leans against the wall and admits that it is not going well. It's a dead end.

We are not a consuming body, we are a collecting body. That is why everything we say oftentimes is very much different from what others say. We base our assessment on things that are real and some other people watch a lot of TV or just talk to other people and that’s how they build their assessments. The fact that we are geographically close to Russia — let’s put it this way: We have capabilities in the Russian Federation, quite powerful ones.

They’ve [Russians] been trying to charge me with terrorism since 2016. But I want to begin by saying that the things they call ‘terrorism,’ we call liberation. And this began not because I went mad and started killing people in Moscow. It happened because they invaded our country back in 2014.

Russia must be brought to justice for its crimes. Every war criminal must be brought before a tribunal. All material and moral damages caused to Ukraine, including lost profits due to the war, must be compensated through the mechanism of reparations.