Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense Kirill Budanov may to leave his post in the near future, as his successor has probably already been chosen, writes the Ukrainian media New Voice, quoted by FOCUS, citing an informed source in the security services.
Commenting on the information about the dismissal of Kiril Budanov, the source stated: "Currently there is information about the dismissal of Kiril Budanov: "Such an option exists".
At the same time, he denied information on some Telegram channels about sending the current head of the GRU as an ambassador to a foreign country.
According to the information of the Ukrainian media source, Budanov could become 55-year-old Oleg Ivashchenko, who now holds the position of head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
Ukrainian media has made a request for comment to the GRU at the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, but has not received an official response, the NV publication states.
As of August 2020, 38-year-old Kirill Budanov is the head of Ukraine's military intelligence. He replaced Vasily Burba, whose resignation was linked to "Wagnergate" - unsuccessful attempt to capture war criminals from PMC "Wagner" who were stationed in Belarus.
"During the full-scale invasion, the GRU of the Ministry of Defense under the leadership of Budanov planned and carried out a number of successful operations against the Russian military, such as the landing in the Mariupol encirclement, the liberation of the suburbs of Kharkiv in 2022, strikes on the facilities of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and others", writes the Ukrainian media.
For the past few weeks, politicians have been discussing the possibility of Budanov being removed from his post. As MP Sergei Rakhmanin suggested in an interview with NV, this is due to the fact that the head of the GRU is not on good terms with the head of the presidential office, Andrei Yermak.