1/ Everybody knows Chief Commander of the UAF 4-star Gen Valeriy Zaluzhniy. I’d like you to know more about who is enabling the success of #Ukraine military by providing correct intelligence. Meet the chief of the Intel Directorate of MoD Major General Kyrylo Budanov [on a photo]
2/ Kyrylo #Budanov is the youngest 2-star military General in #Ukraine. He became Gen. in 2021 when he was just 35 years old. Prior to that, he earned full set of 3 medals For Bravery for participating in secret UA operations against RU troops in the Donbas and Crimea.
3/ In Aug 2020, President @ZelenskyyUa appointed Gen. Budanov as a chief of military intel. On this post, he succeeded Col. Gen. Vasily Burba [on a photo] who planned to capture a group of Russian mercenaries of Wagner PWC but this operation failed & caused political scandal.
4/ Since the first RU invasion in 2014, Kyrylo Budanov participated in operations in the Donbas serving as an officer in the elite 10th SpecOp unit “Island” of late Col. Maxim Shapoval [on a photo] & executed direct orders of Chief of Gen. Staff of UAF Gen. Viktor Muzhenko.
5/ In mid-war time in 2017, Budanov's commander Col. Shapoval was assassinated by a Russian diversion unit in Kyiv in a series of car bomb attacks that killed 2 more UA SpecOp officers. Shapoval was awarded with General rank posthumously.
6/ On Apr 4, 2019, Budanov himself was lucky to survive a car bombing in Kyiv. A RU agent Alex Lomaka arrived by train from Moscow to plant a bomb under his Chevlolet. It detonated prematurely. A wounded RU operative & a diversion group incl. moles were arrested. [Photo: Censor]
7/ A murder of Shapoval & an attempt to kill Budanov look like a revenge for their SpecOp in occ. #Crimea in Aug 2016. #Ukraine denies this op. But Censor & RU propaganda reported that those two were ambushed by the FSB Vympel, killed Lt Col Roman Kamenev [on a photo] but escaped
8/ In 2021, Gen. Budanov’s Intel Directorate of MoD correctly warned UA govt – as the US intel services did as well – that Russia is going to invade again. Thanks to Budanov, #Ukraine knew directions of the invasion & prepared surprises that thwarted the Russian Blitzkrieg.
9/ In October 2022, Russia personally blamed Gen. Budanov for organizing an attack on the Kerch Bridge between Russia & #Crimea which – as Moscow believes - happened as a result of his operation to plant a bomb in a truck and send it onto the bridge.
10/ Gen. Budanov’s directorate coordinates the International Legion of Territorial Defence (Foreign Legion) that was created in Feb 2022. The amended in April law On Intelligence made easier for foreigners from friendly countries to enlist into the UAF ranks. [Photo: Hromadske]
11/ Since July 2022, Gen. Budanov obtained an ultimate control over all #Ukraine's intel activities because he became a chair of the Intel Committee under President Zelensky that coordinates intel services of various government structures.
12/ Since May 2022, Gen. Budanov also chairs a Coordination govt committee that works on returning #Ukrainian POWs from the Russian captivity. More than 600 returned. Latest major success: the release of hundreds of #Mariupol city defenders incl. 5 #Azov regiment commanders.
13/ Data about Gen. Budanov’s operations during the war in 2022 is classified, but his directorate disclosed a few. For example, the liberation of Snake Island and 7 flights of 16 helicopters with supplies to surrounded #Azovstal defenders in #Mariupol city.
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