Russia is amassing missiles to disrupt Ukraine's offensive - Budanov
The head of the Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Kyrylo Budanov, said this in an interview with RBC-Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.
He confirmed that the fact that there has been no massive rocket attacks for a month and a half is a pause, and noted that there is no conspiracy in this.
"...But there is another side. Russia has been producing new missiles during this time as well. It is accumulating them to disrupt our offensive. They hope for this. And most of these missiles will be used during active hostilities. But at the same time, they are building up their potential," the GUR chief said.
Answering a question about the goals of the Russian Federation in this case, Budanov said that the Russians will mostly hit the groups of troops that will be formed.
He noted that the Russians are working to increase production, particularly of missiles, and said that Ukrainian intelligence has data on how many Russians can now produce per month, give certain figures.
"The only thing I can tell you is that these volumes are insufficient for them in terms of their scale to conduct intensive missile strikes," the GUR chief said.
When asked whether he assumed that next fall the Russians might start massively shelling our energy system again, he said that by the fall, if Russia does not spend any missiles, they will have a certain number of missiles - less than the number with which they launched these missile attacks, but quite significant.
"But this (massive shelling of the Ukrainian energy system in the fall - ed.) will not happen, because they plan to use these missiles now," Budanov said.
Separately, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate noted that mobilization in Russia is now moving "normally."
"On average, they mobilize 20,000 people a month - a generalized figure depending on the month," he said.
As reported, President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed confidence in Ukraine's ability to repel the Russian invasion, saying that the country is preparing for a counteroffensive.
