close
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.
Read this article for free! Plus get unlimited access to thousands of articles, videos and more with your free account! Please enter a valid email address. By entering your email, you are agreeing to Fox News Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. To access the content, check your email and follow the instructions provided.
Ukraine’s top spy chief promised more intense offensives on Russian-occupied territory in Crimea soon, claiming that the Russian military has proved weaker than expected.
Kyrylo Budanov, who serves as chief of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, said that 2024 will see much greater efforts to reclaim territory in Crimea.
“In 2023, the first Ukrainian incursions took place in temporarily occupied Crimea,” Budanov said in an interview with French outlet Le Monde. “And this is just the beginning.”
RUSSIA WARNS UK THAT TROOP DEPLOYMENT IN UKRAINE WOULD BE ‘DECLARATION OF WAR’
Chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov gives an interview in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Vitalii Nosach/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Budanov acknowledged the two countries’ mutual inability to make substantive land gains as both are dug into trenches on the front lines.
“The very intensive use of attack drones has made both Russian and Ukrainian offensives impossible,” he said of the territorial stalemate, adding that “another factor has been the density of minefields, unprecedented since World War II.”
The spy chief also took a swipe at the Russian military’s strength, saying that the continued struggle of the Ukrainian defending forces has shown the Russian Armed Forces to be less effective than previously believed.
ZELENSKYY SAYS UKRAINE CAN BEAT PUTIN’S TROOPS BUT NEEDS WESTERN HIGH-TECH HELP
Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov during a presentation of a commemorative coin dedicated to Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine on September 5, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Viktor Kovalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
“A certain Russian paradox surprised me. Everyone thought that Moscow had a strong army and a weak economy. It turns out that the opposite is true,” Budanov said.
He continued, “The economy may be weak, but the country is not starving, far from it. It could even last quite a long time at this rate.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will not consider a cease-fire with Russia, claiming it would only help the invading military bolster its power.
Rescuers work at a site of a destroyed apartment building after a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Zelenskyy made the comments during a visit to Estonia meant to raise support for continued funding of the war effort.
“A pause on the Ukrainian battlefield will not mean a pause in the war,” Zelenskyy said.
“A pause would play into [Russia’s] hands,” he added. “It might crush us afterward.”
Timothy Nerozzi is a writer for Fox News Digital. You can follow him on Twitter @timothynerozzi and can email him at timothy.nerozzi@fox.com
Artificial intelligence can do a lot for us. Need to draft an email? AI has…
A Los Angeles-based aerospace startup called Inversion Space has unveiled Arc, its first flagship spacecraft…
Sometimes, data breaches result in more than just free credit monitoring. Recently, Facebook began paying…
Navigation apps have become an essential part of modern life. Whether you are commuting to…
Construction robots are no longer a far-off idea. They're already changing job sites by tackling…
We spend so much time online that how we connect to the internet has become…