The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kirill Budanov, said that Russia has reached a dead end at the front, but he does not expect fundamental changes in its favor in winter.. During an interview with Liga. net, he noted that the situation would not change even if the occupying units were replenished with mobilized ones and combat coordination took place.

" Not much success in this area. Since August (Russians - ed.. ) constantly say that Bakhmut is almost captured. As you can see, it's already the end of December,"

Budanov believes that the Russians will try to concentrate their forces north of Bakhmut and in the direction of Zaporozhye. However, he doubts that they will be able to achieve anything, as in their previous attempts to carry out local offensives..

" I will not comment on our actions,"

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Recall, the military-political command of Ukraine warns that Russia is preparing to launch a new offensive against Ukraine in 2023.. The most optimistic option is if this happens in February-March. At the same time, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny notes that it is not yet clear in which direction this will happen..

Therefore, he does not exclude the possibility that the occupiers will again try to capture Kyiv, starting the operation from Belarus..

On December 19, for the first time in three years, Russian leader Vladimir Putin traveled to Minsk to negotiate with dictator Alexander Lukashenko.. Most likely, there he wanted to persuade the self-proclaimed president of the Republic of Belarus to directly participate in the war against Ukraine, but analysts at the US Institute for the Study of War believe that Putin did not succeed..