The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, General Kyrylo Budanov, spoke for the first time about the serious injury he received during an operation in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists have been fighting against Kyiv forces since 2014, reports Unian.
In an interview with “New Voice of Ukraine” journalists, he said that he was wounded 3 times during special operations, but one of the landmine wounds threatened his life after a shrapnel hit his chest.
“It is impossible to remove it from the body, it is dangerous. My back and neck were pierced. I passed the first line alone, with adrenaline, about 5 kilometers, then I collapsed exhausted. The injury was serious, but in principle you can live,” he said, without specifying the year when he was injured.
Budanov, a graduate of the Odessa Army Academy, has been involved in combat operations in Donbas since 2014, when Russia illegally occupied Crimea and launched a separatist war in eastern Ukraine.
In 2019, he survived an assassination attempt after the premature detonation of an explosive device planted under his car. In 2020, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi appointed him deputy chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and later that year – its director.
Budanov, one of the priority targets of the Russian special services
The American newspaper The Washington Post, in an article published at the end of January based on interviews with several sources, noted that there were at least 10 assassination attempts on Budanov by Russian special services both before and after the start of the war. in Ukraine.
It is believed that at this stage, only President Volodymyr Zelenskyi would be ahead of the Ukrainian general. Zelensky is said to have survived more than 12 attempts to kill him by Russian forces since the start of the war.
According to sources cited by the US press, Budanov is one of Russia’s top targets, as the Kremlin holds him responsible for the severe damage to the Kerch bridge linking Russia with Crimea last October.
On April 21 of this year, a military court in Moscow issued a warrant for his arrest, accusing him of organizing “terrorist attacks” on the territory of Russia.
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Source: Hot News
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