Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov as the new head of his office on Friday, after his previous top aide resigned in November over a corruption scandal.
Budanov has built up a legendary reputation in Ukraine, credited with a series of daring operations against Russia since it launched an all-out assault against its neighbour in 2022.
“I had a meeting with Kyrylo Budanov and offered him the role of the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
The nomination comes at a key moment in the nearly four-year war, with Zelenskyy announcing on Wednesday that a US-brokered deal to end the conflict was “90 percent” ready.
“At this time, Ukraine needs greater focus on security issues, the development of the Defence and Security Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the diplomatic track of negotiations,” Zelenskyy said.
“Kyrylo has specialised experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results.”
Formal procedures to appoint him as the president’s chief of staff have been launched, Zelenskyy’s advisor Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists.
When appointed, Budanov will replace Andriy Yermak, who resigned in November after investigators raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.
Zelenskyy fixer Yermak resigns over corruption
Andriy Yermak, a key aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, resigned on Friday after his…
1 min
Yermak was Zelenskyy’s most important ally, but a divisive figure in Kyiv, where his opponents said he had accumulated vast power, gate-kept access to the president and ruthlessly sidelined critical voices.
The four-year conflict, the deadliest on European soil since the Second World War, has killed tens of thousands and ravaged swathes of Ukrainian territory.
(cp)