A fresh Russian push will test Ukraine severely, says a senior general
An interview with Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence
![Deputy Head Of Chief Of Defence Intelligence Of Ukraine Vadym Skibitsky](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240504_EUP508.jpg)
The scruffy headquarters of HUR, Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, stands on a jagged piece of land in central Kyiv known as Fisherman’s Island. Strictly speaking, it is not an island but a peninsula. And there isn’t much fishing going on these wartime days. But sporting a piratical beard, the agency’s deputy head, Major-General Vadym Skibitsky, plays a nautical theme. Blunt, enigmatic and sharp as a captain’s hook, he exudes many of the qualities that have made HUR one of the most talked about secret services in the world. But he sounds troubled as he assesses Ukraine’s battlefield prospects. Things, he says, are as difficult as they have ever been since the early days of Russia’s full-scale invasion. And they are about to get worse.
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