Budanov: Russia prepares for winter strike campaign, ceasefire by spring unlikely

Head of the Presidential Office Kyrylo Budanov does not expect that the necessary conditions for a ceasefire in the war with Russia will be formed before spring. At the same time, the negotiation process mediated by the USA, according to him, may resume as early as late September.

Budanov said this in an interview with The New York Times.

Budanov does not expect conditions for ceasefire until spring

According to Budanov's assessment, even a possible quick return of the parties to negotiations will not mean a close ceasefire. Real conditions for a ceasefire most likely will not develop until spring.

He named Russia's plans to conduct another strategic winter campaign of strikes on Ukraine as one of the main reasons. Moscow, according to his assessment, will try to use the winter period to increase pressure and attempt to weaken Ukraine's ability to continue the war.

Budanov also believes that negotiations should eventually lead to some result. According to him, the parties do not trust each other because of the war, but both understand the need to seek a solution, since the war cannot last forever.

Negotiations may resume in late September

Budanov expects the resumption of the negotiation process mediated by the administration of US President Donald Trump in late September - after the parliamentary elections in Russia and a few weeks before the US midterm elections.

According to him, a new stage of negotiations should begin with the visit to Kyiv of Trump's special representative Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. Both have already visited Moscow several times, but have not yet come to Kyiv, despite official invitations.

The New York Times also writes that by the beginning of this year, negotiators from the USA, Ukraine and Russia had reduced the initial 20-point peace plan to basically two main unresolved issues.

One of them concerns the future of the nuclear power plant captured by Russia, the second - control over the territories of Donbas that remain under Ukraine's control. In particular, it is about several cities and adjacent territories in the east of the country.

Even after the actual suspension of negotiations, contacts at the lower level continued. Budanov said that he regularly communicated with the head of the Russian GRU Igor Kostyukov. Previously, through such channels, the parties agreed, in particular, on Black Sea grain export routes and prisoner of war exchanges.

RF offered Ukrainian delegation to fly to Moscow for meeting with Putin

Budanov also revealed a previously unknown episode of negotiations. After the completion of the February round in Geneva, the Russian side offered the Ukrainian delegation to continue negotiations directly in Moscow.

According to NYT information, a potential continuation of such a trip could be a meeting with Vladimir Putin.

For Budanov, this proposal was especially risky, since Russia has put him on the wanted list on terrorism charges since the times when he headed Ukrainian military intelligence.

Despite this, Budanov said that he is ready for any step that could lead to the end of the war, if the conditions are acceptable for Ukraine.

In the end, the Ukrainian delegation's trip to Moscow never took place, and the negotiation process soon reached a dead end.