Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed the popular military intelligence head, Kyrylo Budanov, as Chief of Staff, as Russia launched alleged retaliatory drone strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Saturday.
The Ukrainian intelligence agency GUR chief has been given the role amid ongoing escalations with Russia, particularly following Russian claims of a drone attack targeting Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in the Valdai area of the Novgorod region.
The move also comes weeks after former Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak resigned as anti-corruption officials launched a graft investigation.
Several top Ukrainian officials have been allegedly involved in a graft scandal since the war with Russia began in 2022.
The 39-year-old Budanov has led GUR since 2020, having previously taken part in operations against Moscow-backed separatists in the eastern parts of Ukraine, now under Russian occupation.
He is well known in military and political circles in Ukraine, appearing in interviews and military press briefings. He will now be focusing on political and diplomatic coordination, marking a change of pace for the intelligence chief. It remains unclear whether he will also head the military’s intelligence operation in the future.
But Zelenskyy framed the appointment as Kyiv refocusing on security and defence.
The Ukrainian President, after appointing Budanov, said, “He has specialised experience in these areas and sufficient strength to achieve results.”
For his part, Budanov wrote in a social media post that it was "both an honour and a responsibility—at a historic time for Ukraine—to focus on the critically important issues of the state's strategic security."
Meanwhile, reports on Saturday suggest that Zelenskyy was considering Foreign Intelligence Service head OlehIvashchenko to replace Budanov as the head of GUR.
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