Ukraine spy chief says Russia won’t run out of troops, military force needed to retake cities

Kyrylo Budanov said Russia using reservists in a covert mobilisation to replenish its ranks in eastern Ukraine

He added Kyiv could only achieve a victory against Moscow through military force, and impact of counteroffensive should be ‘visible from August’

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Ukraine’s military spy chief Kyrylo Budanov. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:45am, 26 Jun 2022

Ukraine will defend its eastern front from higher ground in the city of Lysychansk after withdrawing from a Russian onslaught in its sister city and Kyiv will try to stabilise the situation, the eastern European nation’s military spy chief said on Saturday.

Russia has been replenishing forces with reservists as part of a covert mobilisation and it is pointless to hope Moscow will simply run out of troops in this war, Kyrylo Budanov said.

The 36-year-old head of the Defence Ministry’s shadowy Main Directorate of Intelligence spoke in a rare interview in Kyiv hours before Russia claimed full control of the city of Sievierodonetsk where Ukrainian forces had been bombarded for weeks.

Russia used the tactic “it used in Mariupol: wiping the city from the face of the earth. Given the conditions, holding the defence in the ruins and open fields is no longer possible. So the Ukrainian forces are leaving for higher ground to continue the defence operations,” he said.

The only way path to victory for Ukraine, he said, was through sheer military force to retake all its territory.

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