Kyrylo Budanov made the statement in an interview with US broadcaster ABC News on Wednesday, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Ukraine to make 'major push' in the spring
Ukraine’s spy chief said his country was planning “a major push in the spring.”
He added: “This is when we will see more liberation of territories and dealing the final defeats to the Russian Federation.”
Budanov also said: “This will happen throughout Ukraine, from Crimea to the Donbas."
He declared: “Our goal, and we will achieve it, is returning to the borders of 1991, like Ukraine is recognized by all subjects of international law."
Further strikes ‘deep in Russia’ to be expected
Budanov also said that more strikes, “deeper and deeper” inside Russian territory, should be expected in the future.
At the same time, he stated that he would only be able to comment on his country's responsibility for such attacks “after the war is over.”
Budanov’s comments come days after the December 26 attack on Russia’s Engels Air Force Base, which is located over 800 miles from the Ukrainian border, Britain’s The Guardian newspaper noted on its website.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the strike, but Budanov admitted in the ABC News interview that he was “glad to see it.”
France to send light tanks to Ukraine
Also on Wednesday, France’s President Emmanuel Macron pledged to send light tanks to help Ukraine repel Russian aggression, according to officials.
Macron made the declaration in a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, France’s Le Monde newspaper reported on its website.
The French president said his country would deliver “AMX-10 RC light tanks" to Ukraine, one of his aides told reporters afterwards.
The aide noted that "it is the first time that Western-designed tanks are supplied to the Ukrainian armed forces," according to Le Monde.
The French-made AMX-10 light tank is “an armed reconnaissance vehicle with high mobility, which carries four people,” The Guardian reported, citing France’s Ministry of the Armed Forces.
Zelensky later tweeted: "Had a long and detailed conversation with President of France Emmanuel Macron on the current situation. Thanked for the decision to transfer light tanks and Bastion APCs to Ukraine, as well as for intensifying work with partners in the same direction."
Russia strikes Ukraine’s Kramatorsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, casualties reported
Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Wednesday that Russia had launched seven missile strikes, 18 airstrikes and over 85 attacks using multiple-launch rocket systems in the last 24 hours on civilian infrastructure in three cities, Kramatorsk in the east, Zaporizhzhia in the southeast and Kherson in the south.
“There are casualties among the civilian population,” Ukraine’s military command said.
Wednesday was day 315 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: Ukrainska Pravda, ABC News, PAP, The Guardian, lemonde.fr/en, Reuters