An intercepted phone call released by Ukraine’s Military Intelligence (HUR) on Tuesday, Jan. 7, captures a Russian woman reacting with apparent alarm to the personnel decision to appoint Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov as head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
In the recording, a woman from Shebekino, a town in Russia’s Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border, comments emotionally on the leadership change, using language consistent with narratives commonly promoted by Russian state media.
“Now they have Budanov instead of Yermak. What a monster! A fascist, the first one. And he’s also positioning himself for the presidency,” she said in Russian.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, the reaction reflects growing anxiety among some Russian citizens, particularly in border regions, regarding Ukraine’s internal political developments and personnel decisions.
“It seems that, influenced by Kremlin propaganda, Shebekina fears that this appointment could have negative consequences for the Kremlin regime, both politically and militarily,” the HUR post says, adding that such intercepts reflect Moscow’s gradual loss of narrative control, even among audiences traditionally reliant on state television figures such as Vladimir Solovyov and Olga Skabeeva.
Prior to Budanov’s appointment, the Office of the President was headed by Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s long-time chief of staff and a key figure in Ukraine’s diplomatic and security negotiations with international partners.
Who is Kyrylo Budanov and why are Russians afraid of him?
Budanov has led Ukraine’s military intelligence service since 2020 and is associated with several high-profile intelligence and special operations conducted before and during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
These have included operations in Russian-occupied Crimea, efforts to counter Russian plans toward Kyiv, and multiple missions in the Black Sea. In August 2016, Budanov led a five-man special forces unit tasked with delivering weapons and explosives to occupied Crimean Peninsula to prepare sabotage operations in the event of a large-scale Russian attack. The group engaged in combat with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), killing Col. Roman Kamenev and junior sergeant Semyon Sychov, before withdrawing from the peninsula without losses.
At the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, HUR special units under Budanov’s command played a role in disrupting a Russian airborne landing at Hostomel airport, an operation that Ukrainian officials say helped prevent a rapid encirclement of Kyiv.
To support Ukrainian forces defending Mariupol, which was fully surrounded from March 1, 2022, military intelligence organized a special “air bridge” operation. Between March and May, seven helicopter missions were carried out more than 100 kilometers into occupied territory, delivering reinforcements, ammunition and medical supplies, and evacuating severely wounded defenders from the besieged Azovstal steel plant despite heavy air defense fire.
Under Budanov’s leadership, HUR also conducted a number of strategic operations in the Black Sea, including the retaking of Snake Island in June–July 2022 and the recapture of the so-called Boyko gas platforms in August 2023.
In late October 2025, Ukrainian intelligence carried out an operation in the Pokrovsk area, which Budanov personally commanded, according to HUR. Ukrainian officials also say Budanov regularly visits frontline positions and has been directly involved in combat.
According to Kostiantyn Kholodov, head of HUR’s Military Chaplaincy Service, Budanov is a religious man who prays for Ukraine’s victory.
“Glory to Ukraine,” the intelligence agency wrote in its statement accompanying the recording.
Kyiv Post regularly reposts some of the most revealing and shocking intercepted conversations. Check out more intercepted conversations:
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