On the eve of the anniversary of the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 23 and 24, Head of the Main Intelligence Agency Kyrylo Budanov expects a "small missile strike."

"Nothing unusual will happen. Usual attempts... A small missile strike is planned. [February] 23 and 24, they have two dates. Believe me, we have experienced this more than 20 times already," he told Ukrainian Truth, published on Thursday.

According to Budanov, a lot of events are expected in the spring that will be outstanding in this war: Russians will try to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions before March 31, Ukraine is planning a counteroffensive. Russia is preparing to "implement task number one. That is, by March 31, 2023, this is the duty deadline, to reach the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions," Budanov said.

According to Budanov, Russia strives to end this war as soon as possible. "Russia is trying in every possible way to end the war as quickly as possible. But their military bloc is still trying to prove that "we can, let's limit ourselves to Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but we will definitely do it and stop it." There are several people who believe that the prolongation of the conflict is in the hands of Russia. And there are a certain number of people who believe that this is in the hands of Ukraine," the agency's head said.

Meanwhile, Budanov said there are people in Russia who adequately assess the situation. "There are also guys there who understand that no one has time. The longer this goes on, the more and faster the complete destruction of both the armed forces and the economy will come," Budanov said.

According to him, there are Intelligence Agency's agents in Putin's entourage. "Since the situation in Russia is deteriorating every day, it becomes easier to find people willing to cooperate."

Answering a question about Prigozhin's role, his public conflict with Defense Minister Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Gerasimov, Budanov said this conflict "is definitely a plus for us. The more quarrels and serious conflicts they have within the system, the sooner our victory will come."

Commenting on the role of Denys Kireyev, who participated in the negotiation process at the beginning of the war [later he was found shot dead], Budanov said: "I have already publicly answered all the questions. I can say that everything is at the investigation stage. Let's wait for the results." "The only thing I can say is that there has been an information surge. This is a guarantee that the investigation will someday end, because it is impossible to bury it," he said.

According to Budanov, they had a conversation with the head of the SBU, Maliuk, discussing the case of Kireyev: "We agreed not to incite discord among our services – we have something to do."

Summing up, Budanov confirmed his point of view that "we have every chance for ending the war with our victory with the return of all our borders of the 1991 model. These are my opinions and assessments. I will not deviate from them anywhere."