Bild: AFU Conducting Operations In Russia

The war has entered a new phase.

Vadim Skibitsky, deputy head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, gave an interview to the largest German publication BILD.

Here are the main excerpts from it:

The Kremlin has postponed an offensive into Ukraine three times, most recently in mid-February. Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the invasion date several times with Chief of General Staff Valeriy Gerasimov and Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu. "The FSB insisted on the offensive, they were convinced they had prepared enough for the invasion. They had invested huge resources and were pushing Gerasimov to attack." In the end, Gerasimov caved in to pressure and approved the operation, but underestimated the situation. The fact that the Russian units "were supplied with food, ammunition and fuel for only three days shows how badly they miscalculated".

Since the start of the war, the Ukrainian Intelligence Service had many civilian informants: "We received so many tips, almost every Ukrainian reported by phone where Russian soldiers were currently stationed <...> we could tell exactly how many of them were in each settlement and which house they were in".

The military operations which the Ukrainian army conducts on the territory of Russia require serious preparation because "Russian military facilities are well guarded". At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces target "strictly military" facilities of the Russian Armed Forces from which strikes are carried out against Ukraine, including logistics centres, command posts or garrisons with large numbers of soldiers.

After the liberation of Kherson, the war entered a new phase. Russian soldiers who retreated from Kherson region are now stationed in Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk regions. First of all, the Russian Armed Forces have concentrated their attacks near Bakhmut. And there are three reasons for this. "First, they want to control the entire Donetsk region, second, they want to attack the towns of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk from the south. And third, the owner of the Wagner PMC, Evgeny Prigozhin, "cares about his prestige. He accuses the Russian army of not moving forward, but he himself has little to demonstrate."

Vadim Skibitsky argues that the war in Ukraine has severely depleted the Russian army. In addition to heavy personnel losses, due to sanctions, Russia does not have and no longer produces a lot of components for some types of weapons.