The main threat for Ukraine is Russia and its political leaders, who will not accept the existence of an independent Ukraine and will try to return it under its control, Foreign Intelligence Service Chief Valeriy Kondratiuk has said.

"The strategic goals of the political regime of Russia ... remain unchanged: the return of Ukraine to zone of its complete influence, the elimination of its national identity and independence, the establishment of external control over the processes taking place in our country, the termination of Ukraine's existence as a sovereign state," Kondratiuk said in an article appearing in the Kyiv-based ZN.UA (Zerkalo Nedeli) ezine.

"The Kremlin will never accept the existence of an independent, unitary and West-oriented Ukraine, therefore, it will continue a hybrid war against the Ukrainian state," Kontratiuk said.

According to intelligence, with the approach of local elections in Ukraine, Russia will return to the practice of active pressure and provocations in order not only to wreak havoc and undermine public confidence in state institutions, but also to form an opinion in the West about Ukraine's bankruptcy and the toxicity of cooperation with it. One of the elements of this plan is to implant the idea of the federalization of Ukraine as the only real possibility of resolving the conflict by peaceful political means, followed by the disintegration of Ukraine into small formations and their absorption by the Russian side.

"The key to this strategy is holding elections in ORDLO. The Russian Federation insists on holding elections in the temporarily occupied territories without restoring control of the Ukrainian side over the corresponding section of the Ukrainian-Russian border and withdrawing all armed units controlled by Moscow," Kondratiuk said.

Intelligence also predicts that, despite Ukraine's readiness for a peace process, in the near and medium term, along the demarcation line in Donbas, there will be a high probability of provocations from Russia-occupation forces.