Zelenskyy Promotes Ukraine’s Top Spy Following Corruption Scandal

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy promoted the head of the country’s military intelligence agency to serve as his new chief of staff on Friday — filling a vacancy left by an alleged $100 million corruption scandal.

Zelenskyy’s new top aide, Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, led Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (GUR) beginning in 2020, and is a popular and recognizable wartime figure, the Associated Press (AP) reported Friday. The new appointment comes over a month following the Nov. 28 resignation of Zelenskyy’s previous chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, after anti-corruption watchdogs raided the aide’s house in the course of an investigation into corruption in Ukraine’s energy sector.

“At this time, Ukraine needs greater focus on security issues, the development of the Defense and Security Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the diplomatic track of negotiations, and the Office of the President will primarily serve the fulfillment of these tasks of our state,” President Zelenskyy said of Budanov’s promotion on X Friday. “Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results.”

“The position of Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine is another line of responsibility before the state,” Budanov said on X Friday. “It is both an honor and a profound commitment, especially at this decisive moment in our country’s history, to focus on issues critical to Ukraine’s strategic security.”

Budanov regularly appeared in interviews and broadcasts as a public figure in the war since the start of the Russian