Russia's true intentions in the negotiations — Budanov

The head of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, commented on the prospects for peace talks with Russia, emphasizing that the Kremlin's approach remains unchanged: there will be pressure and attempts to reach an agreement on favorable terms for them. 

Kyrylo Budanov said this in an interview with Ukrinform. 

Kyrylo Budanov explains Russia's negotiation tactics

According to Budanov, Russia has traditionally used the tactic of "carrots and sticks", putting pressure on Ukraine while offering attractive financial terms to other parties that might take part in the negotiations. This tactic has always been of Kremlin's nature, and they have no plans to change it.

"Of course, the tactics of carrots and sticks, as they say. They will always do this: put pressure on us and offer various financially interesting things for other parties to participate. It has always been like that and nothing will change. There is another question here: a ceasefire or peace. These are very different things. Reaching a ceasefire quickly — I can share my personal opinion — is, in principle, realistic. But reaching peace quickly? No," Budanov said. 

Russia is going to take advantage of the ceasefire to launch a new offensive

Commenting on the intentions of the Russian military and political leadership, Budanov stressed that the Kremlin is seeking a temporary ceasefire in order to build up its forces and continue its aggression. He said that Russia risks losing its chance for world leadership, which it does not want to allow, and has already set limits on how long it can "tolerate" the war.

"Yes, they need a break. Because according to their strategy, if they don’t exit this war by 2026, they will lose even the chance for global leadership. The best they could hope for is regional leadership, which is absolutely unacceptable for them. The cost of war is too high — especially the financial cost. It prevents the country from developing and from engaging in large-scale projects. There is also a lack of technology and technological solutions that Russia does not have, particularly for the development of Arctic regions and the extraction of gas and other resources there," Budanov explained.

As a reminder, Zelensky announced intensification of international aid for Ukraine. Merz and Macron held a meeting to discuss European security in the context of changes in the US policy towards Ukraine. Previously, France named countries willing to send peacekeepers to Ukraine.