Ukraine's 'dark-loving' intelligence chief

Operating in the shadows, Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov directs raids deep into Russian territory, aiming to cause maximum difficulty for the enemy.

In the office of Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (GUR), not a single ray of light penetrates. The walls are reinforced, the windows are sandbagged and the curtains are drawn. When Budanov was interviewed by the Financial Times , the 38-year-old Lieutenant General asked his aides to turn off the lights, saying “I like the dark”.

As head of Ukraine's military intelligence, Budanov plans the secret war against Russia. He now lives in his office on the outskirts of Kiev and keeps a frog named Petro in a water tank next to his desk.

Kyrylo Budanov was born in Kiev on January 4, 1986. After graduating from the Odessa Military Academy in 2007, he began serving in the GUR, fought against separatists in the Donbass region and was wounded several times. In 2018-2020, Budanov participated in a number of special operations, but information about these operations has not been declassified.

In August 2020, he was appointed Director General of the GRU by President Volodymyr Zelensky and was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General a year later.

In April 2022, two months after the war with Russia broke out, the 36-year-old officer was promoted to major general, a rank usually reserved for officers over 50 in Western militaries. Just a year later, he was promoted to lieutenant general.

Major General Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Directorate of Military Intelligence of Ukraine, attends a press conference in Kiev in September 2022. Photo: AFP

But they also made him famous, with many Ukrainians sharing his image on social media whenever military equipment exploded in Russia or territory controlled by Moscow.

That fame has also exposed Budanov to at least 10 assassination attempts, which he describes as “nothing special.” The most recent was on April 4, 2019. Budanov’s car was bombed by a Russian saboteur, according to Ukrainian authorities. The bomb exploded prematurely and he was unhurt.

Budanov was one of the few Ukrainian officials to predict that Russia would launch a war on February 24, 2022, stating that “it will happen at 5am,” although neither President Zelensky nor many political officials believed Moscow would attack. He had taken his wife to a secure base the night before and “counted the hours.”

"I don't want war to happen, but I have to take responsibility for the information I give. Wrong predictions and judgments would be unacceptable," he said.

Budanov’s assessment was correct, and Kiev was not completely caught off guard by the Russian campaign. In March 2022, he became chairman of the body coordinating prisoners of war. That September, he participated in the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine, when 215 Ukrainian prisoners were returned home. Budanov was also part of the Ukrainian delegation at talks aimed at ending Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea.

General Budanov frequently appears in the media and is known for his restrained style and ambiguous comments about alleged Ukrainian raids and sabotage inside Russian territory.

Budanov's forces are believed to be conducting covert attacks behind Russian lines. However, the Ukrainian military intelligence chief rarely acknowledges such operations, leaving Moscow and the rest of the world in the dark about the GUR's true capabilities.

Budanov’s Western partners sometimes compare GUR to Israel’s famous Mossad intelligence agency. Mossad was once known as the “terror” of the Arab world for conducting secret operations, helping Israel maintain its advantage over its rivals in the Middle East, as well as thwarting many plots that threatened national security.

"Times are different, but we are always ready for tough actions," Mr. Budanov said.

Ukrainian military sources said on January 18 that the country's forces launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to attack oil and gas facilities in St. Petersburg in a "new phase" of the conflict. Ukraine also reportedly targeted a gunpowder factory and oil depot in the Bryansk region, north of the Ukrainian border.

These bold operations have sometimes unnerved Ukraine’s Western allies, who fear that an attack on Russian territory would provoke a strong reaction from Moscow, even a nuclear response. Budanov, however, has remained steadfast in his stance and pledged to continue operations deep inside Russia.

"We don't anticipate any major changes in the near future. We will continue what we have been doing," he said.

Smoke rises after the explosion of the Kerch bridge connecting Crimea to Russia in October 2022. Photo: AFP

The GUR leadership understands that Ukraine is facing a difficult year. "It's not true to say that everything is fine. But it's also not true to say that it's a disaster," Budanov said of Ukraine's less-than-expected counteroffensive last year.

Mr Budanov did not want to assess Ukraine's current military operations, but warned that "it is difficult to imagine that we can continue without mobilizing troops".

President Zelensky said his military commanders had requested the mobilization of between 450,000 and 500,000 new recruits to replace those killed or wounded, while also allowing those fighting on the fierce front lines time to rest.

A year ago, Budanov predicted that Ukrainian forces, on the back of a successful counteroffensive in Kherson and Kharkov by the end of 2022, would advance to the Crimean peninsula. But the Ukrainian army failed to fully penetrate the fortified Russian defenses, and the frontline was virtually frozen. But Budanov insists he was right.

"Although the situation did not meet initial expectations, we kept our promise. Last summer, our intelligence units repeatedly penetrated Crimea," he said, referring to Ukrainian forces carrying out raids on Russian bases on the peninsula.

In September 2023, Ukraine attacked a shipyard in the city of Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula. The Russian Defense Ministry said Kiev used 10 cruise missiles and three unmanned suicide boats, damaging two warships. A day later, 11 Ukrainian UAVs continued to attack targets on the peninsula.

This is just part of Ukraine's campaign to attack the Crimean peninsula over the past year. "We will continue to hinder Russia, to prove that they are not an invincible force," Ukraine's "dark" intelligence chief stressed.

Thanh Tam (According to FT, Reuters, Le Monde )

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