Russia has all but abandoned efforts to take more territory and is now focusing on defending its positions in preparation for a brutal counteroffensive by Ukraine, the head of military intelligence in Kyiv has said.
Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate, said Vladimir Putin’s forces were channeling almost all of their offensive operations into trying to capture the bitterly-contested city of Bakhmut.
Decorated Major General Budanov, 37, did not reveal details about Ukrainian battle plans, but promised that a highly-anticipated counterattack would be a ‘landmark battle in Ukraine’s history’.
It comes after Yevgeny Prighozin, the head of the feared Wagner mercenary group of Russian fighters, declared his forces had taken Bakhumt earlier this month.
The city has not fallen and has continued to see heavy fighting.
Budanov taunted Prighozin in his latest interview with RBC Ukraine, saying that Putin’s crony has nothing to celebrate with the meagre gains and huge losses suffered by Russian forces.
Budanov said that Russian military command is trying to employ similar tactics to those in Bakhmut in the cities of Avdiivka and Marinka, which are also in the embattled Donetsk region, but with limited success.
Outside the area, Budanov said, Putin’s forces ‘have completely switched to positional defense everywhere.’
‘The only places on the frontline where they are making attempts are in the city of Bakhmut, an attempt to cover the city of Avdiivka from the north, and localized fighting in the city of Marinka.
‘Both in Avdiivka and Marinka the tactics are identical to those in Bakhmut – just an attempt to wipe the settlement off the face of the earth, as they say,’ he said.
Budanov also revealed that he believes there is little chance of Vuhledar in the Donbas region, which has been the site of a major tank battle, being captured by Russian forces.
