Volodymyr Zelenskyy Appoints New Chief Of Staff

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday appointed the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence as his new chief of staff; This comes as the United States is spearheading a diplomatic push to end Russia’s nearly 4-year occupation.

Announcing the appointment of General Kyrylo Budanov, Zelenskyy said Ukraine should focus on security issues, developing defense and security forces, and peace talks, areas overseen by the president’s office.

Zelenskyy fired his previous chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, after anti-corruption authorities began investigating allegations of corruption in the energy sector.

The president framed Budanov’s appointment as part of a broader effort to focus more on security, defense development and diplomacy.

“Kyrylo has expert experience in these areas and enough strength to achieve results,” Zelenskyy said.

Budanov, 39, said on Telegram that his new role was “both an honor and a responsibility to focus on issues of critical importance to the strategic security of the state at a historic time for Ukraine.”

In his evening speech, Zelenskyy announced further changes in his team, saying that he recommended the current minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, as the new defense minister.

Fedorov, 34, is known for spearheading the introduction of drone technology to the Ukrainian military and introducing several successful e-government platforms in his current role.

He will replace Denys Shmyhal, who took office in a major government reshuffle last July. Zelenskyy thanked Shmyhal and said he would take on another role in the government. He also thanked the ministry for reaching its December goal of producing more than 1,000 interceptor drones per day.

Previously, Zelenskyy had appointed Oleh Ivashchenko, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, as intelligence chief to replace Budanov.

Budanov is one of the country’s most well-known and popular wartime figures. He has led Ukraine’s military intelligence agency, known by its acronym GUR, since 2020.

A career military intelligence officer, he rose through the ranks in the defense establishment after Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. It also took part in special operations and intelligence missions linked to the fight against Moscow-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine before the full-scale invasion in February 2022. He was reportedly injured during one such operation.

Since the full-scale invasion, Budanov has become the leading face of Kiev’s intelligence efforts, regularly appearing in interviews and briefings that combine strategic signals with psychological pressure on Moscow. He frequently warned about Russia’s long-term intentions towards Ukraine and the region, while depicting the war as an existential struggle for the country’s statehood.

Under Budanov, GUR expanded its operational scope by coordinating intelligence, sabotage and special operations aimed at weakening Russia’s military capabilities far beyond the front lines. Ukrainian officials stated that operations targeting Russian command structures, logistics centers, energy infrastructure and naval assets, including attacks deep into Russian territory and occupied areas, were based on military intelligence.

His appointment to the presidential office marks an unusual shift and places the intelligence chief at the center of Ukraine’s political and diplomatic coordination.

Kiev-based independent political expert Ihor Reiterovych noted that Budanov participated in talks with the United States and would “fit much more naturally into the overall context” of the negotiations.

“Unlike Yermak, he has experience in this field and has worked in a relevant position,” Reiterovych said, adding that GUR also has certain contacts with Russia on issues such as prisoner exchange.

Russian officials said on Friday that the death toll in what they called a Ukrainian drone attack on a cafe and hotel in a Russian-occupied village in Ukraine’s Kherson region rose to 28. Kiev vehemently denied attacking civilian targets.

Svetlana Petrenko, spokeswoman for Russia’s main criminal investigation agency, the Investigative Committee, said that two children were among those killed in the village of Khorly, where at least 100 civilians celebrated New Year’s Eve, and 31 people were hospitalized.

Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Dmytro Lykhovii denied attacking civilians. He told Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne on Thursday that Ukrainian forces “comply with the norms of international humanitarian law” and “only carry out attacks on Russian military targets, facilities of the Russian fuel and energy sector and other legal targets.”

He noted that Russia has repeatedly used disinformation and false statements to disrupt ongoing peace negotiations.

The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the allegations about the attack.

US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff said on Wednesday that he, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s son-in-law and advisor Jared Kushner He had a “productive meeting” with the national security advisers of Britain, France, Germany and Ukraine “to discuss”. take next steps “Europe is in the peace process.”

U.S. efforts hit a new hurdle earlier this week when Moscow said it would strengthen its negotiating stance after saying there was a long-range drone attack on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s residence in northwestern Russia earlier on Monday.

Kiev has denied the attack on Putin’s residence, saying Russia’s claim was a ploy to derail negotiations.

In his New Year’s speech, Zelenskyy said the peace agreement was “90 percent ready” but warned that the remaining 10 percent, believed to include major sticking points such as territory, “will determine the fate of peace, the fate of Ukraine and Europe, how people will live.”

Writing on his Telegram page that Russia hit a residential area in Kharkiv, elsewhere in Ukraine, with two missiles on Friday, Zelenskyy added that Moscow forces “continue the killings despite all the efforts of the world and, above all, the United States in the diplomatic process.”

Regional administration head Oleh Syniehubov said at least 19 people were injured in the eastern city, including a 6-month-old.

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Friday denied any attack on Kharkiv with missiles or other airborne weapons and suggested, without providing any evidence, that the damage may have been caused by the explosion of ammunition at a weapons depot.

Early Friday, Russia carried out what local officials called one of the “largest” drone attacks on Zaporizhia. According to the head of the regional administration, Ivan Fedorov, at least nine drones crashed into the city, damaging dozens of residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure but causing no casualties.

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia fired a total of 116 long-range UAVs into Ukraine; of these, 86 were intercepted and 27 hit targets.

The Russian ministry said its air defense intercepted 64 Ukrainian drones in several regions of Russia overnight.

The Russian city of Belgorod was hit by a Ukrainian missile, according to the Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Two women were taken to hospital following the strike, which left windows broken and an unnamed commercial facility and a number of vehicles damaged in the region bordering Ukraine, the official said.