Zelensky wants Budanov to become the new head of his office

On January 2, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky proposed Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (included in the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists), to become the new head of the office of the President of Ukraine.

"I met with Kirill Budanov and invited him to head the office of the President of Ukraine. Now Ukraine needs to focus more on <...> the diplomatic track in the negotiations," reads a message on the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian leader.

It is clarified that Zelensky instructed Budanov to update and submit for approval the strategic foundations of Kiev's defense and development.

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Budanov replaced the former head of the office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Ermak, whom Zelensky dismissed on November 28. On the same day, Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak spoke about the searches at Ermak's house as part of a criminal case on corruption against businessman Timur Mindich (he is called the head of the criminal scheme).

The Ukrainska Pravda newspaper, citing sources, reported on December 1 that Ermak had a nervous breakdown in response to the Ukrainian leader's request to write a letter of resignation. According to sources, most of the president's team believes that after Yermak's resignation, Zelensky returned to the "old version" of himself in 2022.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.