Ukraine’s military intelligence fears Russia could ‘declare’ victory over Ukraine – and even NATO – within days.
It comes after high tension ‘peace talks’ ended days ago with delegates from Russia and the United States – with no inclusion of Ukrainian representatives.
Kyiv’s intelligence agency, the GUR, fears Putin may portray it as a triumph over NATO as well, amounting to a defeat for the West.
It comes days after Donald Trump and Putin held a 90-minute phone call to ‘end the war immediately’.
In a statement, they said: ‘Russia is preparing to declare an alleged “victory” in the war against Ukraine by the “round date” – February 24, 2025, the third anniversary of the beginning of the full-scale war.
‘Moreover, these plans may also include a “Russian victory over NATO”, as Muscovite propaganda has long described the war against Ukraine as a war with the Alliance.’
Monday marks the third anniversary of a war triggered by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Most Ukrainians consider the conflict to have begun in 2014 when Putin illegally annexed Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine.
If Russia decides to declare ‘victory’, it would come at a time of intense moves to end the war led by Donald Trump.
But Europe and Ukraine fear a settlement would give an advantage to Russia, rewarding Putin for his military aggression.
The GUR said: ‘The special services of the aggressor state of Russia have been instructed by the Kremlin leaders to make the most of the intensification of diplomatic efforts by the new US administration to end the Russian-Ukrainian war and the bilateral meeting of the US and Russian delegations in Saudi Arabia on February 18, 2025, in subversive information and psychological campaigns.’
A key aim was to ‘cover the status of an aggressor and war criminal isolated by the civilised world with the cloak of a supposedly ready for peaceful settlement ‘constructive side of the conflict.’
Countries hostile to Russia gaining territory through its war of aggression would be branded ‘enemies of peace’.
Putin’s propaganda machine and intelligence services are ‘on instructions from the Kremlin, are stepping up efforts to incite disbelief among Ukrainian society, destabilise the situation inside our country and discredit Ukraine among partner states that provide critical military assistance to our Security and Defence Forces in the fight against the occupiers’, the GUR said.
Earlier this week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Trump is a victim of Russian ‘disinformation’ when the two leaders exchanged fiery comments.
Trump said Zelensky ‘talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion, to go into a War that couldn’t be won’.
He blasted Zelensky in a Truth Social post that he also shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, a day after US and Russian officials left Zelensky out of peace negotiations in Saudi Arabia.
‘In the meantime, we are successfully negotiating an end to the War with Russia, something all admit only “TRUMP,” and the Trump Administration, can do,’ the US president wrote.
‘Biden never tried, Europe has failed to bring Peace, and Zelenskyy probably wants to keep the “gravy train” going.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
