Kyrylo Budanov Quotes

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

Classical positional ‘frontline’ warfare is gradually becoming a thing of the past. The 21st century creates new challenges both on the battlefield and in the rear area. Whoever is the first to accept these challenges and find a worthy response to them will win.

So first of all, the fact itself is that we're engaging the military infrastructure and military targets in occupied Crimea and the occupier’s infrastructure. If we're going deeper into strikes against the air defense system, it's more complicated here. First of all, the air defense systems themselves are very costly equipment and it takes a lot of time to produce those and Russian flags those systems because all this inventory is currently engaged in fighting against Ukraine and also in protection of Moscow. They've taken away air defenses from everywhere else. That is why, naturally, when we engage in another and another air defense battalion of the Russian military, they need to think about where they can pull those systems from and where are they able to tolerate less defenses in other places.

Putin understands that in the eyes of world leaders, especially China, he is becoming an unstable ruler who is unable to ensure order in the elections in his country. He shows himself to be a weakling in the eyes of his people and the elites. Weakness is what he fears most. What is happening in Russia now is weakening the regime in general and Putin personally. We have to use this weakness and make it an additional weapon,

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.

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.

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.

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

Hypothetically, there is a plan according to which all this happens. And I believe that this plan includes all the major critical infrastructure facilities and military infrastructure facilities of the Russian Federation. Now, Russian civilians finally see the real picture [of war]. They see burning oil depots, destroyed buildings in factories and plants, and so on. This is all beneficial.

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.

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.

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.

In terms of creativity and flexibility, we still beat Russia. Putin's regime is no longer as powerful. But the enemy has not yet been defeated, and you can't just say that everything is absolutely bad for them. They are adapting. They have built more than one line of defence well. Yet our advancement goes on!

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.