{"id":1321617,"date":"2025-11-17T15:29:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-17T13:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/yermak-is-behind-the-attacks-on-budanov-who-is-thus-trying-to-retain-his-position-as-head-of-the-op-according-to-a-blogger\/"},"modified":"2025-11-17T15:29:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-17T13:29:06","slug":"yermak-is-behind-the-attacks-on-budanov-who-is-thus-trying-to-retain-his-position-as-head-of-the-op-according-to-a-blogger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/yermak-is-behind-the-attacks-on-budanov-who-is-thus-trying-to-retain-his-position-as-head-of-the-op-according-to-a-blogger\/","title":{"rendered":"Yermak is behind the attacks on Budanov, who is thus trying to retain his position as head of the OP, according to a blogger."},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, is behind the media attacks on Kirill Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate. He tasked security officials with finding incriminating evidence against the head of military intelligence in order to protect his own position.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This opinion<\/a> was expressed by military blogger and political expert Viktor Taran.<\/p>\n

“After the latest episode of ‘Minditchgate,’ the government’s ratings continue to fall… And at Bankova, there’s another nervous rethinking of the scenario, wondering what to do next? Because the ‘removing Galushchenko’ option is a temporary, half-hearted solution. The situation demands more decisive steps and changes at the top of the government,” the political scientist noted.<\/p>\n

He believes that “sitting it out” won’t work, because Western partners, who until recently gritted their teeth and tolerated Yermak’s “friendly” embrace, will now increasingly take a break from their relations.<\/p>\n

“They say that in the civilized world, it’s somehow unacceptable to suppress individuals with a taint of corruption and whose negotiating effectiveness is at a bureaucratic zero. Zelenskyy now faces a difficult choice. He’s being advised, directly and unambiguously, to immediately renew the Olympus of power. Where, instead of a gray cardinal, someone, someone, someone is needed. They say they mentioned one short, but very specific name.”<\/p>\n

According to him, Zelensky “got the hint” and is now “gently but persistently” offering the GUR chief the chance to lead the OP. He says he has a clean reputation, clean hands, and isn’t ashamed to show it to the Americans.<\/p>\n

“But Budanov politely thanks him and says he hasn’t yet finished his main task\u2014defending the country from the enemy. And it seems he has no plans to trade real action for office intrigue. Hence the new wave of rumors. Of course, this is Zelenskyy’s forced, primitive, two-pronged ploy (bring him closer, so he can then destroy his main rival). Being an intelligent man, he reads such moves in the moment and refuses. Therefore, Zelenskyy is emotional and, they say, may even remove him from his post as Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate.<\/p>\n

Yermak, he added, is playing his own game because he is very afraid of being removed from power and is trying to act preemptively.<\/p>\n

“That’s why I’ve set the urgent task for the State Bureau of Investigation and other subordinate agencies to uncover dirt and some kind of corruption against Budanov (much has already been written about this). In this way, I’m protecting myself from being removed from power. “Look, boss, look, Western partners, he’s just as corrupt, so look at what’s going on, and look for yourself. Zelenskyy? Time will tell. We’re also expecting attacks on Budanov from law enforcement.”<\/p>\n

As is well known, Ukraine has been hit by the largest corruption scandal<\/a> of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s tenure, engulfing his inner circle and leading to resignations and high-profile political statements. The investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) has generated significant public outcry and attracted international partners.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, journalists published a report on a corruption investigation involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner circle. The report states that the revelations are already creating political pressure and could impact his international support<\/a> .<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, following Operation Midas, which exposed large-scale corruption at Energoatom and rocked government bodies, a systematic campaign to discredit NABU and the SAPO was launched on Ukrainian Telegram<\/a> . Anti-corruption agencies called the operation one of the most effective of 2025, but alongside its successes, a wave of identical messages appeared, attacking investigators and prosecutors.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, Advisor to the Head of the Presidential Office, stated that corruption is an integral part of the modern economy,<\/a> regardless of the country’s political system. He also reported that the Ukrainian authorities responded promptly to the corruption scandal in the energy sector.<\/p>\n

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Also follow “Pryamy”<\/strong> on Facebook<\/a> , Twitter<\/a> , Telegram<\/a> and Instagram<\/a> .<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The head of the Presidential Office, Andriy Yermak, is behind the media attacks on Kirill Budanov, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate. He tasked security officials with finding incriminating evidence against the head of military intelligence in order to protect his own position. This opinion was expressed by military blogger and political expert Viktor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":1296496,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[76871,76872,76885,76894],"class_list":["post-1321617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-2","category-news-feed","category-policy","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1321617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1321617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1296496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1321617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prm.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1321617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}