The wife of the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR, Marianna Budanova, was apparently poisoned. The woman is in the hospital and her life is not in danger. Ukrainian media reported this on Tuesday with reference to intelligence sources.
Budanova was hospitalized after her health deteriorated over a long period of time. Ukrainian media “Babel” reports that the treatment is being completed under the observation of doctors. Budanova was diagnosed with heavy metal poisoning. These substances are not used in any way in everyday life or in the military sector. Their presence may indicate a deliberate attempt to poison a specific person.”
What is known about Budanova is that she has worked as an advisor to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko since June 2021. Kyrylo and Marianna Budanova got married in August 2013. Budanov said in an interview that his wife lives with him in his office for security reasons.
There are many legends around Budanov
Russian propaganda has reported several times since the start of the war that Budanov himself had been killed or seriously injured. But these reports turned out to be false: he always reappeared quickly and, by all indications, healthy. It is said that there were at least ten attempts to kill the head of the Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR. Russian President Vladimir Putin even spoke of one when he stated, at the end of May, that the HUR headquarters in Kiev had been hit in a “highly accurate” missile attack. This was later confirmed also by the Ukrainian side. According to Ukrainian media reports, Budanov was in the building during the impact. He reportedly calmly brushed the dust off his clothes and ordered his men to get back to work while he inspected the damage.
There are many such stories circulating about Budanov. The head of the secret service, just 37 years old, is surrounded by an aura of legend. Both Ukrainians and Russians see him as the mastermind of a whole series of spectacular operations in defending Ukraine against the Russian occupiers: for example, the two attacks on the Crimean Bridge. The crossings of armed Russian opponents of Putin to locations near the border into Russian territory, which made Russia’s security forces look bad several times earlier this year, are also presumably coordinated on the Ukrainian side by Budanov’s secret service.
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Budanow knows how to present himself and gives interviews regularly. For him, active public relations is part of war. Budanov says nothing about individual HUR actions. He leaves it with ironic hints or meaningful silence. Budanov has been heading the HUR since August 2020. He had already been at war for six years. He fought in Donbass, where he was wounded several times. In the years leading up to his rise to the top of the secret service, he participated on several occasions in operations behind enemy lines, including in occupied Crimea. There is almost no official information on the subject – this also contributes to the creation of the legend. His reputation extended to Russia from the start: in the spring of 2019, Budanov narrowly escaped a car bomb attack.