Budanov says Russia is preparing another attack on Ukraine from the north

Russia will soon attack Ukraine from the north again, Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov said in an interview with NV radio published on 13 July.

At the same time, Budanov refused to specify whether the offensive is in Sumy or Chernihiv regions in order not to "provoke panic", but stressed that there are already signs.

"If I start answering this question (where the attack will come from), we will provoke panic," he said. – "Let's just say there are problems, and they tend to get worse.

"There is no catastrophe, but it is impossible not to see problems. I have already told someone from the Western press: unfortunately, I will not have good news this year," Budanov said.

Budanov was responding to a question about Russia's plans, reported in April, to mobilise an additional 300,000 soldiers by 1 June.

Asked how this might affect Russia's offensive plans, he said the situation "seems a bit of a joke to me."

"For two years, when everyone was shouting that there would be a (new) attack from the north, we insisted that this would not happen. Nothing happened," he said.

"The moment we said there would be an attack from the north, everyone started asking: "Maybe it won't happen after all?"

"It will! It is already happening," Budanov said.

Russia opened a new front in the war this year on 10 May, attempting to conduct offensive operations in the Kharkiv region.

Background. As reported, the DIU conducted a special operation in the Baltic Sea, damaging one of the most modern Russian ships. Intelligence officers also managed to intercept classified data on the Russian Baltic Fleet and the aggressor's military-industrial complex.