Budanov predicted the return of Crimea

The head of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Directorate of Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said in an interview with The Washington Post that Putin is sick with cancer and uses look-alikes:

Whether Putin is real now remains an open question.

Budanov also predicted that this year Russia will focus on occupying more territory in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk:

A renewed offensive by enemy troops stationed north of Ukraine, in Belarus, is unlikely. It is an attempt to distract and divide the AFU.

The GUR head said in an interview that Ukraine must do everything to ensure that Crimea returns home by the summer:

Crimea will come back to us. I'll tell you more: it all started in Crimea in 2014, that's where it will end.

As for nuclear weapons, Kirill Budanov said that a nuclear strike would not only lead to Russia's military defeat, but also to its collapse. According to him, the Russian leadership knows this very well.

Budanov also said that some 326,000 Russian troops are now fighting on Ukrainian territory, and noted that Russia has about 9 percent of its remaining stock of Kalibr-type sea-launched cruise missiles.

The Washington Post reports that classical music is played in Budanov's office 24 hours a day - a protection against wiretapping, journalists suggest. Also, a pet frog lives in the office of the head of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Directorate.