Zelenskyy appoints spy chief Kyrylo Budanov as new presidential chief of staff

Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov has been named as the new head of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's office. Photo / AFP

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov as the new head of his office, after his previous top aide resigned in November over a corruption scandal.

Budanov, 39, 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 on Friday.

The nomination comes at a key moment in the nearly four-year war, with Zelenskyy announcing on Wednesday a US-brokered deal to end the conflict was “90%” 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.”

Budanov said he had accepted the nomination and would “continue to serve Ukraine”.

“It is an honour and a responsibility for me to focus on critically important issues of strategic security for our state at this historic time for Ukraine,” he said on Telegram.

Procedures to formally appoint him as the President’s chief of staff have been launched, Zelenskyy’s adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists.

Zelenskyy has also announced Budanov will be replaced by the current head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, Oleg Ivashchenko.

Budanov, when appointed, will succeed Andriy Yermak, who resigned in November after investigators raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.

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 World War II, has killed tens of thousands and ravaged swathes of Ukrainian territory.

– Agence France-Presse