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Military intelligence chief has been credited with a series of daring operations against Russia since it launched its invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov as his new chief of staff as Ukraine and the United States work on a 20-point plan that could end Russia’s war.

“Ukraine needs greater focus on security issues, the development of the Defence and Security Forces of Ukraine, as well as on the diplomatic track of negotiations, and the Office of ​the President will primarily serve the ‌fulfillment of these tasks of our state,” Zelenskyy said on X on Friday.

“Kyrylo has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results,” ‌he added.

The new post for the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence (GUR) of the Ministry of Defence was announced at a key moment in the nearly four-year war with Russia after Zelenskyy announced on Wednesday that the US-brokered deal to end the conflict was “90 percent” ready.

Budanov has been credited with a series of daring operations against Russia since it launched an all-out assault against Ukraine in 2022. The 39-year-old has run the GUR since being ⁠appointed to the post by Zelenskyy in August 2020.

Budanov said he had accepted the nomination and would “continue to serve Ukraine”.

“It is an honour and a responsibility for me to focus on critically important issues of strategic security for our state at this historic time for Ukraine,” he said on Telegram.

Procedures to formally appoint him as the president’s chief of staff have been launched, Zelenskyy’s adviser Dmytro Lytvyn told journalists.

Budanov will succeed Andriy Yermak, a divisive figure in Kyiv. He was decorated as a Hero ‍of Ukraine and known to be Zelenskyy’s most important ally, but he resigned in November after investigators raided his house as part of a sweeping corruption probe.

The corruption scandal involving Yermak, who was also Kyiv’s lead negotiator in US-backed peace talks, fuelled public anger over persistent high-level graft.

His opponents accused him of accumulating vast power, acting as a gatekeeper regarding access to the president and ruthlessly sidelining critical voices.

Dec. 31 (Asia Today) — South Korean police investigating lobbying allegations involving the Unification Church raided the home of Jeong Won-ju, a former chief secretary to church leader Han Hak-ja, on Wednesday, authorities said.

The National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters special task force carried out a search and seizure at Jeong’s residence in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, in connection with allegations that former Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Jae-su accepted bribes, police said.

Investigators also searched the office of the special prosecutor handling a case involving former first lady Kim Keon-hee in Seoul’s Jongno district, police said, adding they secured materials related to the bribery allegations.

Jeong was sent to prosecutors the previous day on suspicion of violating the Political Funds Act over what police described as split donations to politicians from both major parties in early 2019. In the Jeon case, police are treating Jeong as a witness, according to the report.

Jeon is accused of receiving 20 million won (about $15,000) in cash and a luxury watch worth 10 million won (about $7,700) from the Unification Church in 2018 along with requests tied to church-related issues.

Police previously summoned Jeon as a suspect on Dec. 19 on allegations including violating the Political Funds Act. Investigators executed search warrants on Dec. 23 targeting Bulgari Korea and Cartier as they sought to verify the timing and value of the alleged gifts, the report said.

Police are expected to summon Jeon again after reviewing materials seized in the latest searches, it said.

Separately, police began questioning a former chair of the Universal Peace Federation, a Unification Church affiliate tied to the Korea-Japan undersea tunnel project, as a witness Wednesday, the report said. The tunnel project is considered one of the major issues the church lobbied for in political circles.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

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