Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has become increasingly displeased with the work of military intelligence head Kirill Budanov and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, and could replace them in the coming weeks, several outlets in Kiev have said.
Forbes Ukraine was the first to report the rumors, citing an official inside the presidential cabinet and two lawmakers on the defense committee of the Verkhovna Rada. As the main reason for the proposed personnel changes, they listed the “growing challenges at the front.”
Discussions about Budanov’s sacking have been going on for at least a month, according to Forbes’s sources. The head of the military intelligence service HUR reportedly has “strained relations” with Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak and General Aleksandr Syrsky, the supreme commander of the Ukrainian armed forces.