For Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, the position of the United States of America is of utmost importance.
This was stated on television by Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, responding to a question about how significant the change in rhetoric of U.S. President Donald Trump (in the context of reducing a deadline from 50 to 10 days) might be for Putin and whether he feels threatened.
“For the Kremlin leader, the U.S. position is extremely important. But I would like to put it a little differently: our fate is in our own hands. Ours, not anyone else’s. Yes, we depend in many ways on various factors occurring in the world. But still, our fate is in our own hands. What will happen in a few days (when the deadline set by Trump for Putin expires) — let’s wait and see. But we must place our hope in ourselves,” he said.
Answering a question about how he would assess the recent information flow, including announced sanctions from Trump (against Russia and India) and reports that Putin, despite sanctions, is not inclined to end the war, Budanov urged people not to rush to conclusions.
“I emphasize this. What happens in the media space—from absolutely different sides, from our enemy, within our media field, from our colleagues, comrades, allies, partners, anyone—must be properly understood. Each side tries to present the situation in a light favorable to itself at this moment, I emphasize — at this moment. And each side pursues its own goals,” he explained.
In his opinion, Ukrainians need to rely on themselves and not hastily take everything said in the media of various countries at face value.
“We need to be more cautious with information coming from the media of different countries around the world. Every country has absolutely its own state goals—for them, national goals—and that’s normal. We must respect this and treat it normally,” said the intelligence chief.
Budanov also separately noted that, at present, the scenario of Russia being divided into several parts is unrealistic.
“And I’m speaking about the ‘here and now.’ So, at the very least, it is premature to think about such things (risks of the nuclear arsenal, if Russia collapses, being concentrated in different hands),” he said.
In response to another question, Budanov reported that North Korea supplies about 40% of all the ammunition currently used by the Russian army in the war.
