Putin must make some decision on war in Ukraine during June – SBU Reserve Major General

This opinion was shared by Viktor Yahun, SBU Reserve Major General and former Deputy Head of the SBU (2014–2015), during a broadcast on Espreso TV.

“They (the Russian authorities – ed.) are very afraid of stopping the fighting. First, they didn’t expect the war to drag on this long. Second, they simply don’t know what to do with the huge number of people who’ve been to the front and might come back. They have some programs to bring them into the system, some so-called rehab programs – but it’s all just a bluff. I remember how many went through Afghanistan, and how many came back, and in what state. Some 'Afghans' went into business, some into government roles, some into public institutions – but a large number ended up in gangs. And those wild 1990s, you know, it wasn’t just random – there were a lot of 'Afghans' involved. And now, they’ve openly trained criminals to kill – to kill without thinking, without a conscience. It’s a nightmare for them, because these people will come home and start asking: ‘Look, we fought there, and you didn’t fix anything here, it got worse,’” he said.

Yahun noted that the longer the war drags on and the more Russian forces are neutralized or eliminated, the easier it will be for the Russian elite to stay in power.

But the civilian side of Russia’s economy won’t survive this.

“But there’s another dilemma. This war can’t go on forever, and they really are up against a deadline. They have to make some decisions this month. Everyone’s been saying June – mid-2025 – is the breaking point. Not for the military side, but for the civilian economy. If they stay in this state until year’s end, there’s no going back to what they want. And they’ve written this themselves: if they want to be among the countries shaping the world’s future, even just make it into some 20-style group, they need to end the war by the end of 2025 and focus on internal problems, not external ones. So they don’t have much time left. I’m not saying things are easier for us, but the situation is what it is,” added Yahun.

• On June 4, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had proposed a ceasefire to Russia ahead of the leaders’ meeting. In response, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin called the Kyiv government “terrorists.”