Ukraine Intel Chief Warns Russia Could Attack By Late January 2022

Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency has warned that Russia, which has more than 92,000 troops on the border with his country, is preparing for an attack by the end of January or beginning of February.

Photo Insert: Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency

Budanov revealed the plan in an exclusive interview with Howard Altman published in the Military Times on Nov. 2021, adding that such an attack would likely involve airstrikes, artillery, and armor attacks followed by airborne assaults in the east, amphibious assaults in Odesa and Mariupol, and a smaller incursion through neighboring Belarus.

Russia’s large-scale Zapad 21 military exercise earlier this year proved, for instance, that they can drop upwards of 3,500 airborne and special operations troops at once, he said.

The attack Russia is preparing, said Budanov, would be far more devastating than anything before seen in the conflict that began in 2014 that has seen some 14,000 Ukrainians killed.

Budanov said that ideally, the US would help deter any Russian incursion through more military aid and increased diplomatic and economic pressure, including more sanctions against Russia and the seizure and blocking of Russian banking accounts.

In addition to US aid already promised and delivered, including Mark VI patrol boats, Javelin anti-armor systems, and AN/TPQ-53 light counter-fire radar systems, Ukraine seeks additional air, missile, and drone defense systems and electronic jamming devices, Budonov said. Patriot missile batteries and counter rocket, artillery and mortar systems are on Ukraine’s wish list.

Speaking to the Washington Post on Friday, Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said it was unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin has yet decided to attack.

But Russia is building capacity to do so, Budanov told Military Times, increasing troop levels and weapons systems in occupied Crimea and staging systems like Iskandar short-range ballistic missile systems and other weapons elsewhere near the border. “I think it’s not enough for us right now,” he said of current and promised US aid to Ukraine.

“We need more. No countries except Ukraine have open war with Russia. And we have for seven years. That’s why we’re sure the US should give us everything we didn’t get before. And right now. It’s the right time for this. Because after it could be very late.”

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