Last night on Jan. 2, 2026,, Ukraine’s acting president Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in his nightly video message a series of government re-assignments. While this has become a semi-regular routine every time his popularity drops, and now has the character of the proverbial rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, the choice of Kyrylo Budanov, the long-term head of the Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR), as his new Head of the Presidential Office, is worth some special attention.
Zelenskyy explained that Ukraine currently needs “greater focus” on security, on the development of its armed forces, and “on the diplomatic track of negotiations.” He selected Budanov because he “has specialized experience in these areas and sufficient strength to deliver results.” The appointment of Budanov, notorious as Ukraine’s “man of action,”’ with training in special ops and central to wetworks and assassination operations, certainly sends a message to Zelenskyy’s growing opposition to tread lightly. But Budanov’s recent shift from wild, hyperbolic accusations against Russia, to a calmer call for negotiations, has raised the possibility that, curiously, he may be Ukraine’s best person to approach Moscow. (See separate slug on his Dec. 31 interview on the need for negotiation, compromise and “non-standard” concessions that will not be “easy.”)
Zelenskyy’s other moves involved moving Oleh Ivashchenko from the head of the Foreign Intelligence Service to Budanov’s former post as head of the HUR, and dumping Denys Shmyhal as Defense Minister. Shmyhal is being replaced by Mykhailo Fedorov, the up-and-coming drone and digitalization expert. Zelenskyy declared that “we must implement defense sector changes that will be of help.”
