The Russian occupation forces changed their tactic in Bakhmut, their infantry attack "wave after wave" using a few armored vehicles, Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov has said.

"Everyone can see the shift to a different tactic in Bakhmut. Vuhledar was a vivid example. The infantry just attack wave after wave in Bakhmut. The artillery forces only support them, and they use only a few armored vehicles. They used armored vehicles in Vuhledar, but they were destroyed in the first hours, and after that shooting fight started," he said in an interview with Forbes Ukraine.

The Ukrainian intelligence chief also said that from a military perspective "we hold Bakhmut to restrain the Russian forces in this area and inflict catastrophic losses on them".

"We are exhausting them and defending our territory, which in no way can be evaluated in the context of worthy or not worthy leaving it," Budanov said.

To a question about Ukraine's serious defeats in the war, he said that Severodonetsk was one of the most painful losses.

"The first biggest defeat is a temporary defeat of Ukraine near Severodonetsk. The second one is the first stage of the war when the line near Volnovakha was broken. As for the third one, I am going to give a general answer – it is the fact that we allowed the temporary occupation of Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea back in 2014. These are our three biggest defeats, however, all of them can be corrected," Budanov said.