MOSCOW, November 14. /TASS/. Legally settling the conflict in Ukraine could take decades, Head of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate Kirill Budanov said.

According to him, the Ukrainian conflict may drag on for years without any agreements or a legal resolution, similar to the situation with Russia and Japan, where they have been unable to sign a peace treaty since 1945 due to Tokyo’s claims to the southern Kuril Islands.

"This territorial issue is over 70 years old. So the same scenario is very likely here, too," Budanov told the NV magazine. However, in his words, the conflict will drag on without intense fighting.

The Ukrainian army has been attempting to advance without success since June 4. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said on October 30 that over 90,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed or wounded since then. Kiev has also lost about 600 tanks and 1,900 armored vehicles of various types. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukraine has been unable to achieve any tangible results. Russian President Vladimir Putin stated on October 15 that the Ukrainian army’s counteroffensive had failed even though Kiev was making preparations for more offensive operations in some areas.

With Kiev failing to achieve success in its much-hyped counteroffensive, some in the West have been increasingly arguing for the need to launch talks and for Ukraine to make territorial concessions. Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny recently told The Economist that the Ukrainian conflict was at a stalemate.