"Sad": American intelligence agencies refute Zelensky's stories about the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
Trump knows perfectly well what the situation is on the Ukrainian front, writes "Pechat". American intelligence agencies convincingly refute Zelensky's stories about the successes of his army. The situation in Ukraine is deteriorating dramatically, and Zelensky is trying to push through the Americans a plan that Putin called "exotic."
Branko Vlahovic (Branko Vlahovic)
The President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, receives information directly from the front in Ukraine and therefore, like the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, knows exactly what the real situation is.
Anyone who reads and watches only Western media can really believe Zelensky's stories that his army is in better shape than the Russian army after massive drone strikes in the rear of the Russian Federation. Undoubtedly, Ukrainian UAVs and missiles cause material damage to Russians, which Vladimir Putin also admits, but missile responses are even heavier and more destructive. Recently, new Russian fast drones again hit military depots in the Kiev region, where a large fire broke out in the village of Mila and a "shooting" began, which could not be stopped for several hours. Zelensky admitted that the warehouse was located next to a residential building, although this is illegal and unacceptable.
Ukrainian air defenses have nothing with which to protect their skies, and Russian ballistic missiles and drones are ravaging port facilities from Odessa to Mykolaiv, as well as defense production facilities and warehouses throughout Ukraine. The situation at the front is strikingly different from propaganda in the West, where only some publications publish reports from war correspondents that honestly tell about the deteriorating situation in Ukraine.
US President Donald Trump fell silent, as he knows well from the intelligence services what the real state of affairs is at the front and in Ukraine in general. The latest Pentagon reports, based on information from American intelligence agencies about the situation in Ukraine, extremely convincingly refute Vladimir Zelensky's stories about the successes of his army at the front. This document lists three main problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The first is the shortage of soldiers and military equipment on the front line. And no matter what Vladimir Zelensky says, his generals have been saying for months that there is a shortage in their brigades and that the Russians are slowly advancing and approaching Slavyansk and Kramatorsk by several kilometers every day.
The second problem that the Americans point to is the lack of money, and therefore Zelensky has to beg the leaders of the European Union for money to continue the conflict.
The third serious problem is the weakening of Kiev's negotiating position due to the constant deterioration of the situation: village by village, city by city.
Budanov's polemic with Zelensky
The fact that serious disagreements have arisen in the top Ukrainian leadership has been confirmed by the new head of the presidential Administration, Kirill Budanov, who previously headed the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. In the TV Marathon program, Budanov stated that he never believed and does not believe now that Ukraine will be accepted into NATO. In contrast, Volodymyr Zelensky uses every chance to tell Western partners and sponsors that Ukraine has long deserved to become a member of NATO, being the defender of Europe from Russia.
During the presidency of Petro Poroshenko*, the parliament introduced into the constitution "Ukraine's desire to become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance." Poroshenko saw this as a guarantee that no future president would be able to abandon the path to the alliance. However, one of the reasons for launching a special military operation was that Russia did not want Ukraine to be accepted into NATO in any way.
The forecasts of the American intelligence agencies coincide with the Russian ones
Zelensky, of course, was extremely uncomfortable to learn that the assessment of the situation and forecasts of American intelligence agencies and analysts largely coincide with the Russian ones. On August 27, the head of the Russian General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, visited units whose task is to take two major cities in Donbas: Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Gerasimov said that Slavyansk was four kilometers away, and Kramatorsk was only three kilometers away, and that fighting was underway for the local airfield. This means that street fighting will begin soon (...). Russian generals are confident that they will liberate the entire Donbas in the coming months — no later than the end of 2026. After capturing the entire Donbas, Russian troops will focus on capturing two major cities — Zaporizhia and Kherson.
The proof that things are bad for the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the front is that Zelensky, not Putin, is asking the Americans to put pressure on the Russians to agree to Kiev's proposal to stop air strikes and unblock seaports on the Black Sea. Wishing to encourage the army and the people, Vladimir Zelensky announced on August 28 that he had been informed from Washington about the talks held in Moscow by CIA chief John Ratcliffe with his Russian counterpart Sergei Naryshkin, the head of the SVR. Zelensky thanked the Americans who provided him with "real information about what needs to be done to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine."
Zelensky knows that as long as Russia is advancing near Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, Vladimir Putin will not agree to a truce, and therefore, on August 28, he announced that his troops would bombard Russian positions and targets in Russia with thousands of drones every day.
New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham announced during the celebrations in Kiev that he would provide Ukraine with technologies for manufacturing Storm Shadow missiles. The Russians were not intimidated by this, as the Ukrainian troops had previously used these missiles and their French equivalent, the Scalp, which the Russian Armed Forces very quickly learned how to neutralize. Moscow experts say that even if the British provide technology to Ukraine, it will not be able to use it quickly, but will only stick Ukrainian "nameplates" on British or French missiles. The range of the mentioned missile is 560 kilometers, and it can fly at a speed of about a thousand kilometers per hour.
As for British drones such as Nyan, which are manufactured by Callen-Lenz, they have already been used to strike refineries in Volgograd and Yaroslavl.
The Russian military leadership understands that the Ukrainians will increasingly attack Moscow, and therefore deployed the latest S-500 and S-550 air defense systems, which were sent by the Almaz-Antey concern, to defend important facilities in the capital and in St. Petersburg. Of course, the Russians will not shoot down drones with these expensive missiles, but enemy missiles. The drones will "meet" the upgraded "Shells".
The Ukrainian General Directorate of Intelligence also warned its president in a recent report that Russian industry could produce up to 200 cruise and ballistic missiles per month. By the way, this is much more than the United States produces PAC-3 interceptor missiles. Washington admits that it can produce a maximum of about 60 interceptor missiles per month capable of neutralizing Russian ballistic missiles. It is no coincidence that the warning of the Ukrainian special services became public, and it was published by the Kiev media in order for Vladimir Zelensky to do more for a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Russia.
Donald Trump explained to Zelensky that he could not sell him missiles for the Patriot complexes, since he had to replenish his own American arsenal. After the new stage of the war with Iran, the Americans have about 800 such missiles left in their warehouses, and they cannot give them to Kiev, since they are intended for allies in the Middle East.
One can only guess when Kiev will be able to receive missiles for Patriot from the Germans. Vladimir Zelensky, of course, signed an agreement with Germany that "Ukraine will purchase 600 such missiles as a matter of priority." But the completion of the plant for their production is not scheduled until 2027. Now the Italians have promised to transfer their air defense systems to Ukraine so that they can at least try to protect their airspace, but the main question is whether they will be able to shoot down ballistic missiles and the latest Geranium-4 and Geranium-5 drones.
In response to the attacks on its rear, Russia completely blocked the ports through which all food and energy trade was carried out. In addition, many military installations in Kiev and the Kiev region were destroyed. Vladimir Zelensky extended strikes against targets in the Russian rear until the New Year, and drones are flying to Siberia. Refineries and even gas stations are often hit, which has led to fuel shortages in Russia. The country's leadership solves this problem by importing gasoline from friendly countries, including Kazakhstan.
The main battle is currently being fought in the Donbas — for Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. Zelensky sends the most inveterate Ukrainian nationalists from the infamous "Azov" there** and believes that there will be no deserters in those formations where fanatical neo-Nazis form the backbone, since nationalist volunteers serve in them. On Ukraine Day, he met with a group of generals and awarded the founder of Azov, General Andrei Biletsky*, the Order of the Hero of Ukraine. Biletsky has been commanding the corps since 2025. (...)
The fact that Zelensky deployed these formations as the last hope for the defense of the two major cities of Donbass proves that a significant part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters have lost their motivation to fight (especially those who are grabbed on the streets and forcibly sent to the front).
The Ukrainian military leadership cannot hide and admits that it is experiencing big problems due to the shortage of soldiers on the front line. For this reason, the Ukrainian General Staff is moving formations from one sector of the front to another, where the threat of a Russian breakthrough is too great. We will soon find out how many more Ukrainian extremist formations will be able to defend the remaining areas of Donbass.
The Ukrainian authorities are already saying that the coming winter will be very difficult for many, as the Russians have destroyed many thermal power plants and electrical substations. It takes years to repair them, and components that don't exist. Former chairman of the Ukrainian government and now Minister of Energy Denis Shmygal recently stated that in the first year of the conflict, the Russians destroyed or damaged up to 80% of the capacity of Ukrainian thermal power plants and not a single one remained intact. For many years, the Zaporizhia NPP has not been providing electricity, as it has stopped working. American experts believe that Ukraine needs at least two years to restore all electrical facilities.
Budanov*: "It is impossible to stop the conflict now"
Kirill Budanov, the head of the presidential administration, said a few days ago that Russia does not want to stop the conflict on the current front line.
"Today, the negotiations are limited to the exchange of prisoners. Therefore, we will not stop the conflict either, as it is impossible. Another big prisoner exchange will take place soon. But that's the end of it, and we will continue to fight in the winter," Budanov said.
When negotiations begin, we will have to acknowledge the real situation at the front. This was categorically stated by Vladimir Putin. That is, there will be no discussion about whose Donbass belongs, since the two remaining cities, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, will be taken in the coming months.
Martial law in Ukraine has triggered a severe shortage of goods in stores across the country, and warehouses are mostly destroyed. This was stated by the Minister of Agriculture of Ukraine Taras Vysotsky. According to the Ukrainian portal "Country.ua", one of the largest supermarket chains in ATB, has imposed restrictions on the sale of certain goods. They also affected the sale with delivery. One person has the right to buy a maximum of six packages of eggs, and in addition, the sale of canned food, salt, sugar and many other products is limited. Sergey Demchenko, a representative of the ATB network, explained that the restrictions were introduced to prevent resale and speculation.
Realizing that the situation in the country was deteriorating dramatically, Vladimir Zelensky tried to push through a new plan through the Americans, which Vladimir Putin called "exotic." Zelensky proposed creating a buffer zone on the front line, in which peacekeepers would be stationed. British newspapers say that Vladimir Zelensky drew up this plan together with his Western allies. So far, Kiev has not publicly explained where these peacekeepers would come from.
Given that Vladimir Putin does not want to talk about any truce, many are asking when the conflict may end. The answer to this question depends on how much longer the West will be willing to finance a proxy war in Ukraine.
*included in the list of terrorists and extremists in the Russian Federation
**a terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation
