In late December, Budanov made a public appearance in Bakhmut in Donetsk, the hottest point of the 800-mile front line. What he saw shocked him.

“Soldiers showed me a section where dead bodies are piled up like something you would see in a movie,” he said.

“There are hundreds of dead bodies just rotting away in the open field, in places they are piled on top of other bodies like makeshift walls, when Russian troops attack on that field they use those bodies for cover, like a shield,” he continued. “But it’s not working. There are actual fields of dead bodies there.” …

“Our goal, and we will achieve it, is returning to the borders of 1991, like Ukraine is recognized by all subjects of international law,” said Budanov.