Budanov: Ukraine is hitting Russia with its own weapons, but the Kremlin still has money for war

Ukraine is currently carrying out almost all strikes on Russian territory with its own weapons. At the same time, there is no reason to hope for a quick end to the war.

This was stated by the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, during a speech at the Kyiv International Economic Forum, an UNIAN correspondent reports .

“99% of these assets are ours,” he said, commenting on the weapons Ukraine uses to attack Russian targets.

Budanov recalled that in previous years the Ukrainian army relied heavily on Western systems, the use of which was limited by the conditions of its partners. Because of this, it had to act with “one hand tied.”

Now the situation has changed: the deployment of our own production has allowed us to use forces and resources as the operational situation requires.

“This is the correct interpretation of what was happening then. But now we have our own production. Yes, we want more, we always want more. But it is there. And it is our domestic production that has allowed us to use our forces and means in the way we see it. And this gives results,” Budanov said.

At the same time, he warned that the coming years will not be peaceful: even if the fighting slows down, a constant threat to Ukraine will remain.

“I don’t mean that we will be at war all the time. No, the conversation is not about that, but about the fact that we must be ready to fight back, including armed resistance, at any moment. This will be, as they say, both a challenge and our opportunity. And we will have to live with this,” he added.

When asked whether the war could end by the end of the year, the head of the GUR answered briefly: “I hope for the best.”

The head of the Defense Ministry’s GUR added that it is not correct to think that the Russians are already running out of money. The occupiers currently have the funds for aggression.

“The thesis that it is becoming more and more difficult for Russia is a priori correct. However, the question is how critical it is for it now. You yourself have indicated many factors. Unfortunately, this is far from what everyone dreams of. There is a reserve of fortresses there that is quite serious for waging war for a fairly long period of time,” he noted.

Recall, earlier the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published the names of Russian long-range aviation commanders suspected of planning and organizing missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure . The published materials provide the names, official positions and contact details of the suspects.

As is known, earlier, specialists from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine carried out a large-scale cyberattack on critically important elements of Russia’s digital infrastructure . The SPB payment system (Fast Payment System) and one of the leading telecommunications operators in the Russian Federation – TransTeleCom – were hit.