The Armed Forces, defense forces, and all defenders of Ukraine are ready for any scenario during the spring-summer campaign, which will be extremely difficult.
This was said by the Deputy Chief of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Vadym Skibitsky, at an event on the occasion of the anniversary of the beginning of the Russian Federation's full-scale aggression against Ukraine, organized on February 24 at the residence of the Federal President of Germany in the Bellevue Palace in Berlin.
"The situation remains very difficult because the Russian Federation did not abandon its initial plans…. The spring-summer period will be very difficult, we understand that, we are preparing. We are ready for any development of the situation, we are strengthening our capabilities, we have experience and strong support from our partners. The spring-summer campaign will be aimed at achieving results. But we will achieve the result," said the major general.
He expressed his gratitude to partners, and friends who helped everyone, first of all, to strengthen the capabilities of our Armed Forces, and defense forces to prepare for decisive battles this year.
Skibitsky said that he is optimistic about cooperation within the Rammstein format. As of today, we have clear support and plans aligning on this powerful platform every month. For almost a year (since April 2022), this format has really lived up to expectations - it is the support of more than 50 countries, it is a powerful coalition that works in unison and is successful, said the deputy head of the GUR.
He noted that despite some small tactical successes of the Russians, in particular in the Bakhmut area, the main goal of the Kremlin - the complete occupation of Donbas - was not achieved in a whole year. The Ukrainian side disrupts all plans, which are constantly changing.
Going back a year ago, Skibitsky noted that Russia launched an offensive from at least four directions, but the Russian Armed Forces are not capable of conducting such offensive operations at the same time. They can do it in a maximum of two directions.
The second factor that the Kremlin's plans were not implemented, he called the fact that at the beginning of the aggression, more than 350,000 Ukrainian servicemen had the experience of performing combat tasks in Donbas, these are people with combat experience. That is why they now master Western technology so quickly, in two or three weeks.
Skibitsky said that he was proud of the fact that the military intelligence of Ukraine knew in advance every step of the enemy and was ready for the start of large-scale aggression, the signs of which were already in the spring of 2021: when large-scale exercises began, when a group of more than 150,000 Russian troops was later pulled to the borders, almost 1,800 tanks, 440 combat aircraft, 530 combat helicopters - 92 sabotage groups from four military districts of the Russian Federation, three divisions of airborne troops, etc.
The major general recalled that the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov said at the end of October 2021 that the war would begin on February 15. It did not start on that date only because Putin did not approve the plan proposed to him by his Ministry of Defense and the General Staff, Skibitsky noted.
"But Ukrainian intelligence knew the entire disposition, knew in which directions the Russian troops would advance," he said and recalled the plans according to which the BTG from the territory of Belarus was supposed to enter Kyiv within 12 hours, occupy the defense and isolate the capital from help. There are documents of the enemy's airborne forces, which had to completely take control of all the main buildings and intersections in Kyiv within two or three days.
"We didn't make a mistake in anything except for the terms for which Russia planned to conquer all of Ukraine," Skibitsky noted.
The deputy head of military intelligence expressed his immense gratitude to the entire population of Ukraine.
"In the first days, there was so much information about the enemy's movement that we did not have time to process it. Everyone sent messages from mobile phones. There was such popular opposition that it is simply incomprehensible to our partners and friends in the intelligence community," the intelligence officer noted.
He also focused on the aspect that Ukraine will have to be rebuilt after the end of the war.
"Who but the German people has the experience of restoring their state, the experience of unification," Skibitsky noted.
He called the processes taking place in the Russian Federation irreversible. He assumed that the time would come when Russia would no longer be within its current borders; there are signs of this, and noted that it would take time for the Russian population to understand the aggressive nature of this war.
The Bellevue Palace (Germany) event became central to honoring Ukrainian heroes. It was attended by the entire senior management of the Federal Republic of Germany and Ukrainian guests, including military personnel and former prisoners of war; the President of Ukraine addressed those present.
