The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, was allegedly injured during a Russian missile attack on the headquarters of the Main Directorate of Intelligence in Kyiv and is currently in a Bundeswehr hospital in Berlin, reports Ria News.

The news agency claims that a Russian missile fell not far from Budanov’s office. He was pulled from the rubble and first taken to Poland and then taken to a hospital in Germany. The Kyiv authorities did not confirm the information.

“According to information received by the Russian security forces from sources in the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov was injured during a Russian attack on the morning of May 29 on the building of the Main Intelligence Directorate on Rybalsky Island in Kyiv. A Russian missile hit Budanov’s office next door,” an employee of the Russian law enforcement agencies told RIA Novosti with reference to sources in the Main Intelligence Directorate.

On May 31, pro-Russian accounts in social networks shared images in which the GUR building was allegedly damaged by shelling, and today they were restored with information published by the RIA.

The head of military intelligence of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, appeared in a video published on June 11, in which he is silent for almost 30 seconds. At the end, the video is accompanied by the text: Plans love silence.

However, it is not known exactly when this recording was made. The last time Budanov appeared in public was on May 29, Ziarul.md notes.

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 Budanov may have been the target of at least 10 assassination attempts by Russian intelligence 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. It is believed that Zelensky survived more than 12 attempts to kill him by Russian forces since the beginning 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 serious damage to the Kerch Bridge connecting Russia to Crimea last October.

On April 21 of this year, a military court in Moscow issued an arrest warrant in his name, accusing him of organizing “terrorist attacks” on the territory of Russia.

Budanov told how he was wounded in Donbas

General Kyrylo Budanov also spoke 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.

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 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.

• Read the interview with the HotNews.ro team of the head of Ukrainian military intelligence Kyryl Budanov.