Kyiv: Vladimir Putin wants total victory against Ukraine by the end of 2025

"Russia would like to end the war by the end of 2025 or early 2026 with a victory, since from the summer of 2025 it will face serious economic problems and will have to mobilize, which may undermines the socio-political situation", stated to "Interfax-Ukraine" Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, citing Russian data.

"2025, the turn of the 25th - the beginning of the 26th, is a key year for them. They want to end all of this because, according to their own calculations, if the Russian Federation does not emerge from this war as the notional victor, they will lose the possibility of seeing Russia as the superpower they aspire to be, for the far, shall we say, foreseeable future - a horizon of 30 or more years", he commented.

Budanov notes that Russia predicts that "all their problems will begin in the summer of 2025", as both financial-economic and socio-political factors will combine.

According to him, Russia is currently fighting the worsening economic situation correctly, as it understands that the recession continues and is already palpable and painful.

"But this is far from the peak. They predict that around the summer of 25, the negative impact on the economy will start to be very noticeable for their country. This, by the way, is related to many processes that they are trying to speed up in their country in order to get out of this period as well as they want. They would like to finish with a victory, unfortunately," adds Budanov.

According to him, the issue of recruiting soldiers into the army is becoming increasingly acute in Russia. "During this period (the summer of 2025) they will be faced with a dilemma - either to announce mobilization or to somehow reduce the intensity of hostilities, which in the end may turn out to be decisive for them," said the head of Ukrainian military intelligence.

He is convinced that war fatigue exists in Russia, regardless of what anyone says, because the war has already affected a large part of the Russian population.

Budanov admits that the Russians are openly happy that "the aggressor has already managed to conquer more than 30% of the country's territory", and they are also happy with the high salaries in the Russian army. However, the number of volunteers is decreasing, which has led to an increase in one-off payments.

The head of Ukraine's intelligence adds that the social and psychological state of the population is also affected by Ukraine's efforts to bring hostilities to the territory of Russia, deep inside it. "This has changed the worldview (of Russians)".

"Before that, the entire Russian population lived in the paradigm that no matter what, we are a very strong country, we are the strongest in the world... And with the first explosions, let's say, in Moscow and on the territory of the Russian Federation, and so on, this myth was destroyed," explains Budanov.

Referring to Russian documents, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence noted that in the absence of a Russian victory, by the end of 2025 there will be only two superpowers left in the world - the USA and China, and there will be no place for Russia.

"They are clearly aware of this. This is a key period for them. Therefore, they will do everything possible to win in their understandings. Otherwise, they will drop out of absolutely all global processes. The only thing they can count on is regional leadership, and that doesn't satisfy them, Budanov concluded.