The chief of Ukraine's military intelligence agency will be Volodymyr Zelenskyy's new top political adviser, the Ukrainian president announced, elevating a shadowy figure who is credited with some of the country's more audacious wartime endeavors.
The nomination of Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov as head of the presidential office came as Zelenskyy tries to move beyond a snowballing corruption scandal that had resulted in the sacking of his longtime adviser, Andriy Yermak.
In a social media post released on January 2, just hours after his nomination first appeared publicly, Budanov -- who heads the military intelligence agency known as HUR -- said he would accept the new position.
"It is an honor and a responsibility, at a historic time for Ukraine, to focus on critically important issues of the strategic security of our state," he said in a Telegram post.
"Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results," Zelenskyy wrote in his own announcement.
'The Man Without A Smile'
The 39-year-old Budanov, sometimes referred to in Ukrainian media as "the man without a smile," will move into the critical post at a key moment for Ukraine as negotiations to try to end Russia's nearly four-year war intensify.
Yermak, a longtime confidant of Zelenskyy, had been a key negotiator in peace talks -- first and foremost with the United States. Those talks accelerated in November when President Donald Trump's administration released a peace plan that was seen as heavily favorable to Russia.
Zelenskyy and his advisers have sought to push back on the US-led peace plan. Just prior to the New Year, Zelenskyy traveled to Florida to speak with Trump, a meeting that from Ukraine's perspective appeared to be mostly successful.
Back home, however, Yermak was caught up in a major corruption scandal, arguably the worst since Zelenskyy became president in 2019. After weeks of damning headlines, Yermak tendered his resignation at the end of November, which Zelenskyy, who has not been implicated in the energy sector kickback schemes, accepted.
Role In Kerch Bridge Attack
Naming Budanov as his chief of staff undercuts the possibility of Budanov challenging Zelenskyy in any possible presidential election, something that has come into focus in recent months.
A veteran of the war against Russia's shadow invasion in 2014, Budanov was appointed as head of the HUR in August 2020. Since then he has overseen some of Ukraine's most audacious intelligence operations during Russia's all-out invasion.
Reportedly a member of a CIA-trained commando unit known as Unit 2245, Budanov is credited with orchestrating the October 2022 bombing of the Kerch Strait Bridge that links the Russian mainland to the Russian-occupied Crimea Peninsula. The bridge was damaged and later repaired. The Kremlin blamed the HUR.
He claims to have been the target of at least 10 assassination attempts, and his wife has also allegedly been targeted.
This week, Budanov revealed what appeared to be an elaborate ruse involving the death of an anti-Russian, neo-Nazi commander of a militia that had staged raids into Russia. Ukrainian officials on December 27 announced the killing of the commander, Denis Nikitin; Russia had issued a $500,000 reward for his capture or killing.
Four days later, however, Budanov and Nikitin appeared in an official video in which they said the killing was a ruse aimed at obtaining the Russian reward and that Nikitin was in fact still alive.
Budanov will be replaced by Oleh Ivashchenko, the current head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Zelenskyy said.
Separately, vowing changes to Defense Ministry operations, Zelenskyy nominated the country's digital transformation minister, Mykhaylo Fedorov, to take over the ministry.
Fedorov, 34, had led the government's digitalization projects since the early years of Zelenskyy's presidency.
The current defense minister, Denys Shmyhal, a former prime minister who has held the post since July, will remain in the government, changing his role once again.
Neither Fedorov nor Shmyhal has publicly commented on Zelenskyy's announcement.
