Zelenskyj makes secret service chief new office manager

Ukraine

Zelenskyj makes secret service chief new office manager

At the end of November, the head of the presidential office in Kiev, Andriy Yermak, was forced to resign after house searches. Now President Zelenskyj is presenting a successor.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has put intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov in charge of the presidential office. Budanov will succeed Andrij Yermak, who resigned at the end of November following house searches by corruption authorities. Zelensky reported on social media about a meeting with Budanov in which he offered him the position.

Budanov previously headed the HUR military intelligence service. Zelensky said Ukraine needs to focus more on security issues, the development of defense and security forces and the diplomatic path of negotiations. The President’s Office will devote priority to these tasks. Budanov is particularly experienced in these areas and can achieve results, Zelensky wrote.

Budanov shared Zelensky’s post shortly afterwards on his Telegram channel. He wrote in another post that it was an honor and responsibility for him to focus on the issues of the state’s strategic security at this historic time for Ukraine.

Ukraine, which has been defending itself against the Russian war of aggression for almost four years, has been rocked for weeks by a bribery scandal that has reached into the state leadership. Jermak also found himself in need of explanation in this context. At the end of November he resigned after house searches. Yermak is a long-time confidant of Zelensky and was a central figure in negotiations with the Americans to end the war. He had led the Ukrainian negotiating team.