In wartime Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, 38, head of Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR), has established himself as one of the main figures in the conflict. He is one of the few Ukrainian officials who predicted the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, stating that it would take place “at 5 a.m.” He was housed in a sheltered base with his wife and remembers watching the hands of the clock turn that night. “I didn't want this war, but I am responsible for this kind of information. Such a mistake would have been unacceptable,” he said calmly, his face calm.
Since then, a live frog has kept him company in his office on the base where he still lives. Kyrylo Boudanov's journey speaks for itself: an entire life is transformed into a special operation. After leaving the Odessa Military Academy in 2007, he immediately joined the elite GUR forces, a calling. The young major general has been wounded several times in secret operations since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014 and has been the target of numerous assassination attempts. In 2020, he was appointed head of the GUR by President Volodymyr Zelensky.
His Western colleagues sometimes compare Kyrylo Boudanov's GUR to the 1970s Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, a parallel he does not reject. “Times are different, but we are ready to act decisively,” he admits. At the current stage of the war, the audacity of its covert operations, reaching deeper and deeper beyond Ukraine's borders, sometimes tests the nerves of its foreign partners. On November 28, 2023, Kyrylo Boudanov's wife Marianna became a victim of attempted heavy metal poisoning.
On December 29, 2023 and January 2, bombings of unprecedented proportions occurred in Ukraine. Has the war entered a new phase?
This may surprise you, but the reason for these strikes is very simple. The Russian Ministry of Defense took stock of the year 2023: They wanted to show something quickly to proclaim the year as victorious and move on to the next. However, they had no real military success. Given the enormous missile inventory on their side, the option was obvious. The target of the attack was our military infrastructure with high-precision missiles, which, however, have numerous deficiencies. They often come up short. We sent them our response immediately.
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