Colonel Andriy Biletskyi is widely regarded as one of the most distinguished combat commanders in the Ukrainian army. Since March 2025, he has led the Third Army Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a formation built on the foundation of the Third Assault Brigade — the very unit Biletskyi himself established and commanded at the start of the full-scale invasion. The brigade has become a benchmark for recruitment, training, motivation, and operational effectiveness.
CONTENT
Ceasefire Scenarios
Exploiting the Ceasefire
Assessment of the War Dynamics
Frontline Challenges and Obstacles
The Kursk Operation
Ceasefire Scenarios
First, I’ll be frank with you: I don’t pay much attention to ceasefire scenarios. Because it seems to me the shortest path to a ceasefire is actually positive shifts on the front. Let’s speak plainly. And it seems to me that our country — and many of the military, military-political figures, people who should be taking care of the economy and equipping the army — are thinking too much about a ceasefire, instead of thinking how to actually bring that ceasefire closer, i.e., make the army more effective here and now. So I’m not very much in favor of that. I believe we should be thinking about results on the battlefield first and foremost.
And it will not bring us closer to a ceasefire. As for the ceasefire itself — that’s an extremely complicated question. Undoubtedly, I consider attempts at disengagement into 15–40-kilometer zones and so on to be a terrible absurdity. Because the Russians, even if they were to pull their troops back from the line of contact, would pull them back over our territory. Meanwhile we would be pulling our troops back 15 or 40 km on our own territory.
That’s an absurd scenario that effectively steals from Ukraine thousands of square kilometers. It steals populated places where people live. Sadly, a huge number of people live there. People inside a line of contact. It’s a very strange story, but it exists. So if we’re talking about a ceasefire — that kind of abrupt one, yes — if it were to come into force tomorrow, obviously that would be a question of a halt along the line of contact - a freeze. If it were to happen, let’s say, that’s a more effective option than disengagement that exchanges territory. And what is this exchange of territory? What would Russia be exchanging?
People talk about “exchanges of territory,” as if Russia will exchange our territories to our territories?!
Exploiting the Ceasefire