Former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyi supported the statement of volunteer and head of the Charitable Foundation Diana Podolianchuk, in which she called for an end to insinuations about the possible resignation of the Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov.
In her statement, Podolianchuk noted that together with Budanov, her charitable foundation had managed to implement a number of large-scale projects, including the purchase of Sich drones and Magura maritime drones, which effectively eliminated the Russian fleet in the Black Sea.
“Kyrylo is a responsible, brave and incredibly cool person. He is a leader who is directly involved in combat operations and is always on the front line with his soldiers… I hope that the authorities will immediately refute the rumors about Budanov’s “possible resignation”. After all, unity is our strength in the fight against a common enemy,” said Diana Podolianchuk.
The former head of the Armed Forces, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, responded to this post with a “heart”. The volunteer was also supported by writers Andriy Kokotyukha and Anatoliy Dnistrovy, musician Oleskandr “Fozzy” Sydorenko, journalist and released prisoner Volodymyr Fomichev, soldiers Ruslan Kahanets and Oleksandr Hrom, volunteers and bloggers.
In recent days, there have been many rumors about Budanov’s possible resignation from the post of the Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine. Popular anonymous telegram channels were among the first to spread such rumors, followed by second-tier political experts.
Finally, on the evening of October 1, the Day of Defenders, President Zelensky posted a photo of himself with Defense Minister Umerov (whose resignation was also announced by anonymous telegram channels) and Kyrylo Budanov, which could have been a demonstration of the absence of conflict between the president and the security forces.
At the same time, observers recalled that a joint photo of the president and Zaluzhnyi was also published on Zelensky’s pages on the eve of the former chief’s resignation.
The very next day, on October 2, the Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders published a statement on its telegram channel calling on the government not to dismiss Budanov as responsible for the exchange of prisoners of war.
“As the head of the Coordination Headquarters, Kyrylo Budanov has been in constant contact with the families of the Mariupol garrison prisoners for more than two years. Prior to that, during the defense of Mariupol in 2022, he participated in the organization of an air operation of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine, which delivered numerous medicines, ammunition and reinforcement personnel to the besieged units in Mariupol,” the Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders said.
In their opinion, the change of the Chief of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine could suspend the exchange of prisoners of war. Later, telegram channels close to the OP began to deny rumors of Kyrylo Budanov’s alleged resignation from the post of DIU chief.
On October 2, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi spoke at the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, where he said that Ukraine, together with its partners, must win the war against Russia.