Volodímir Zelenski This Friday he appointed head of the presidential office to Kirilo Budanov (kyiv, 39 years old), who had been leading the military intelligence agency since August 2020. “I met with Kirilo Budanov and proposed to him to head the Office of the President of Ukraine,” he announced through the social network these areas and sufficient strength to achieve results,” the president concluded.
Budanov didn’t think twice. “I consider the position of head of the President’s Office as a new limit of responsibility towards the country. For me it is an honor and a responsibility, at a historic moment for Ukraine, to focus on critical issues of the strategic security of our State,” the spy chief, the target of several assassination attempts at the hands of the Russians since the large-scale Russian invasion, declared on social networks.
Since the end of November, Zelensky has been looking for a replacement for the almighty Andriy Yermaka disgraced shadow leader. The president’s trusted man, with whom he maintained a friendly relationship before even making the leap into the political arena, was involved in the largest corruption case since the so-called “special military operation” began in February 2022.
The anti-corruption agencies raided the home of the lawyer and former film producer—an industry where he met Zelensky—in search of evidence that would incriminate him in Operation Midas, the macro-corruption case that investigates bribes in the public energy company Energoatom. A national scandal that forced his resignation.
Appointed successor
Budanov headed the list of Yermak’s potential successors from the first minute. Other names that were on the president’s table were those of the former prime minister and current head of Defense, Denis Shmihaland the Minister of Digital Transformation, Mijailo Fedorov. The deputy prime minister of Foreign Affairs had also gained in recent weeks, Serhii Kyslytsiaone of the main negotiators with the Trump Administration.
Married to Marianna Budánovaformer advisor to the mayor of kyiv and victim of non-fatal poisoning with heavy metals in 2023, the new head of Zelensky’s office received this Friday his first assignment at the hands of the president: to update and present for approval the “strategic bases of defense and development of the State”, in coordination with the secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Rustem Umerovacting leader of the negotiating team with the White House.
Budanov’s appointment sets a precedent. It is the first time that an operational general and senior intelligence official, with experience in negotiations and military operations, holds a civilian position. His choice is not without controversy either. In 2021, the spy chief was caught for residing in a property linked to a businessman accused of questionable activities. The case—it is in plain sight—never affected his career.
“For Zelensky it is something positive because Budanov’s popularity is high,” he highlights in conversation with this newspaper. Oleksiy Haranprofessor of Comparative Politics at the National University of kyiv. “His appointment would prove that there is a focus on security, defense and international affairs.”