Transnistria isn't big threat for Ukraine, - Budanov
Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, believes that Transnistria doesn't pose a great threat to Ukraine, but it is a factor of destabilization in the whole region.
He said this in an interview with NV, Censor.NET reports.
Answering questions about Transnistria, Budanov said: "There is no great threat (Transnistria - ed.). But it is a factor of destabilization in the whole region: for Romania, for Moldova, and for us."
Instead, in his opinion, Transnistria is a huge military problem for Russia. After all, this is a territory that Russia fully controls, but has no approach to: the border on the one hand with Moldova, on the other - with Ukraine. "And no matter how much they shout there, they can't do anything serious there. Those units that are in Transnistria are all their strength, and there are about 1.3 thousand of them. These are Russia's official troops in the region. For the most part, they guard warehouses in the village of Kolbasna. The smaller one is the radio center in the village of Mayak, and they are located in Tiraspol, "Budanov said.
Commenting on the mood in the Russian army, the head of Ukrainian intelligence noted that it is completely demotivated. "However, there is a military vertical - they (the military of the Russian Federation - ed.) are commanded, and they will be forced to carry them out. Whether you like it or not, there is an order, and you will carry it out. If you don't do it, you go to jail, there are many different options. Therefore, their moral condition is not significant. They will carry out the order," he said.
In addition, according to him, there is a shortage of personnel in the Russian army. In particular, a huge number of Russian generals, and senior command staff "went down to command battalions, and in some cases - companies - by hand."
In this context, Budanov noted that if the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov was forced to go to the front, "apparently something happened."
"There is only one reason - unsatisfactory plans to move forward. The occupation is failing, they don't have time. They had the main deadline - to have time to finish the "special operation" by April 24, but they completely failed it.
The second date is to complete the operation at least in Donbas by May 9. Failure to do so will further complicate the political coloring of the whole process," he said.
According to him, Putin cannot admit that he is losing to Ukraine. And for this, he needs to show a serious opponent to say, conditionally speaking: "Maybe we will lose a little bit, but we will not lose to Ukraine."
