According to Budanov, both pressure from the Ukrainian army, political processes in Russia, and pressure from diplomacy will contribute to this.
The Russians had the opportunity to calmly get out of the situation they created, he said. However, they did not want to stop and chose the path of escalation, which creates problems for them, Budanov said.
He said he believes that Ukraine is nearing the end of the war.
At the same time, he stressed that this would be possible only with the restoration of the territorial integrity of Ukraine to its 1991 internationally recognized borders.
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“No other option is acceptable to us,” Budanov said.
“Any territorial concession could only lead to a new conflict later on.”