The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, said that at present the scenario of Ukraine returning to Russia's orbit is unrealistic. He stated this in interview "Moseichuk +".
"As of now, this is impossible. Because even if someone wanted to turn, say, towards Russia, it simply wouldn't work. And the events that we see in our society confirm this once again." — he said in an interview.
At the same time, according to Budanov, the future is uncertain, and if Ukrainian society does not draw serious conclusions, the consequences may be unpleasant.
"But the question is what will happen next. If we all don't change and start taking what is seriously, different things may happen, and they may not be the most pleasant ones," — he warned.
Budanov drew an allegory from his personal hobby of collecting postage stamps. He pointed out that many states whose stamps are in his collection have already disappeared from the political map of the world.
"I can show you 20 countries just by stamps, which are not far away in Africa. They existed not so far from us and they no longer exist, even among the countries of Europe. Somewhere, probably, 7 countries have definitely ceased to exist during this period of time. Therefore, we need to seriously think about what we are doing and where we should be moving," — he emphasized.
Budanov noted that even in Europe, at least seven states have disappeared over the past decades, and added that Ukraine should think about where it is heading.
"We have to clearly define for ourselves, if we don't do it, it will be imposed on us. So it's better to make our own strategic goal - who we are, where we are going, our place and role in this world. And then choose the tools we need to achieve this. Because otherwise, relatively speaking, we can be the plot of another brand," — said the head of the GUR.
Commenting on a recent JP Morgan study on likely scenarios for Ukraine, Budanov emphasized that these are only analytical models, not predictions.
"These are scenarios for the development of events, first of all, this must be remembered. This is not a dogma, this is purely a scenario, options," — he remarked.
Despite the seriousness of JP Morgan's structure, Budanov called not to focus only on analysts' assessments, but to think about what Ukrainian society really wants.
In his opinion, scenarios like the Belarusian or Georgian ones are unlikely to satisfy Ukrainians. At the same time, the options of "Israelization" or the South Korean model look more attractive, although they remain debatable.
"I believe that we need to think about how to continue living in the conditions we already find ourselves in. And think about how to preserve our statehood, our society, our culture and nation. And the most difficult thing to think about in this situation will be how to then return what we have lost for a certain period of time," — Budanov concluded.
