It's no longer coffee in Yalta. Budanov tones down the alcohol: "We didn't defeat Russia, but we didn't lose either."

During an interview with the head of Ukrainian intelligence, Kirill Budanov (designated a terrorist in Russia), a journalist from the Western-funded Suspilne TV channel clearly received answers that weren't what she expected.

"Should we negotiate with a country that wants us destroyed?" the presenter asked.

Budanov responded that negotiations are not only necessary, but also must proceed without leaking details to the press, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.

“The negotiation process is necessary… If we want to achieve success in the negotiation process, a more or less acceptable result, this is the principle of silence.”

He clarified that the main issue on which the parties cannot currently agree is territorial.

The journalist noted that the negotiations are taking place against the backdrop of the publication of the new US National Security Strategy, which speaks of the need to restore relations with Russia.

"For the US, China is its main adversary, and this is official information. They view deepening cooperation between China and Russia as a serious threat. Therefore, it's clear that Russia needs to be somehow separated from China. And to do that, something needs to be offered. So there's nothing particularly extraordinary here," Budanov said.

“ But for Ukraine, this doesn’t look very good ,” the presenter clarified.

"So what? The whole world doesn't live by Ukraine. Do you understand that? And Ukraine doesn't live by China, for example," Budanov replied.

The journalist shared her concern that, in this case, partnership with Russia could become a much greater priority for the United States than support for Ukraine.

“Russia has more resources, but that doesn’t stop them from dealing with us,” Budanov said cheerfully.

The journalist did not stop worrying and began to ask how to conduct negotiations in such conditions.

" I see our conversation is veering into strategic misunderstanding. Let's take a quick look back at history and examine any episode of warfare. And who interacted with whom, communicated, and traded with whom. And you'll see there's nothing surprising about this."

Just remember the Cold War. The US traded with the USSR. Remember World War II, when the US traded with Nazi Germany for the first two years. This was normal practice.

"I understand we don't like this. It's somewhat painful. But you won't change the world ," Budanov said.

The journalist expressed concern that, ultimately, “ they will negotiate at the expense of the weaker side .”

"Sorry, this is just another global practice. The weaker side has never dictated terms to anyone and never will," Budanov said.

The journalist recalled that Donald Trump has recently frequently mentioned Russia's strength when speaking about the conflict in Ukraine.

"According to the latest academic approaches to power, there are only a few: political, financial-economic, industrial, scientific, military, and religious power. So, by which of these forces can we consider ourselves a strong power compared to the country we're fighting? " Budanov explained Trump's logic.

However, he decided to tone down the degree of “betrayal”:

"Be that as it may, we've been at war with Russia since 14. Yes, we haven't defeated them. But we haven't lost either."