Zelensky appoints Foreign Intelligence Service chief as Budanov's replacement
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect official declarations from the President's Office.
Oleh Ivashchenko, the current Foreign Intelligence Service chief, will replace outgoing spy chief Kyrylo Budanov as the new head of military intelligence (HUR).
An official in the President's Office, speaking anonymously to share information about the latest reshuffle, told the Kyiv Independent on Jan. 2. that Ivashchenko was President Volodymyr Zelensky's choice to lead HUR. Decrees published later that day on the Presidential Office website confirmed Ivaschenko's appointment.
The official, who spoke said the relevant decrees would be signed on Jan. 2.
The news comes a few hours after Zelensky announced he would appoint Budanov to take charge of the President’s Office following the dismissal of Andriy Yermak as the head of the office in November. Yermak resigned after nearly five years in office amid Ukraine's largest corruption scandal.
Before publicly confirming the new HUR chief, Zelensky said in a Telegram post that he had held a meeting with Ivashchenko, during which they discussed the current threats, the general state of the country, and steps to continue harming the Russian economy.
"Starting today, Oleh Ivashchenko will continue serving our state and carrying out tasks to limit Russia's military potential in his position within Ukraine’s military intelligence,” Zelensky wrote on Telegram.
Among other tasks, HUR carries out long-range strikes deep inside Russia and across Russian-occupied territories to grind down Moscow's military capabilities, as well as gatherers intelligence and conducts sabotage operations. HUR also regularly publishes data of Western components found in Russian weapons that kill civilians in Ukraine, in efforts to expose how Moscow is bypassing sanctions.
Before assuming the role of head of the Foreign Intelligence Service in March 2024, Ivashchenko served as deputy chief of the military intelligence in 2015-2024.
