Ukraine's Presidential Office chief opens up on working with Zelenskyy
Photo: Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine (Getty Images)
Kyrylo Budanov, Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, describes his relationship with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an extensive interview with RBC-Ukraine. According to the official, there was a transition period at the beginning of their collaboration.
Is there a subordinate relationship between them?
When asked whether his relationship with the president fits into the superior-subordinate paradigm, Budanov replies unequivocally—he has no doubts whatsoever about the hierarchy.
A career military officer, Budanov calls himself the president's subordinate without qualification and says he has "no problem with that."
When asked whether he communicates with the president exclusively on work-related matters, Budanov replies that there are so many such issues that there is simply no time left for any other kind of communication.
How their collaboration began
According to sources, Budanov’s relationship with the President was rather cool at first, but later they had a serious conversation, after which the situation improved.
Budanov himself does not directly confirm this version of events, but he explained why the initial stage might indeed have been difficult.
Zelenskyy, he says, had grown accustomed to one model of working with his chief of staff; Budanov operates by another. "That's normal — it's a transitional period," he says, agreeing when it was put to him that the two men were simply, in his phrase, "getting used to each other."
When asked whether this could be called a settling-in period, Budanov agrees, noting that every team goes through such a phase.
He adds that there was no problem with that, nor could there be.
When asked directly whether they had already gotten on the same page with the President, Budanov answered in the affirmative.
What reconnaissance officer's workday is like
Budanov notes that it is quite difficult to describe a typical workday, since everything varies greatly from person to person. However, he does point out a certain pattern.
He says that he started with his first meetings, the standard ones, at 8 a.m.
When asked when the workday ends, Budanov gives a vague answer.
"However it ends," he says briefly.
Exactly half a year ago, Budanov took the helm of the Office of the President. During this time, despite the absence of radical personnel changes at Bankova Street, the role and place of the Office of the President within Ukraine’s overall system of government have noticeably shifted.
Budanov had also previously spoken about relations with Russia after the war, emphasizing that Russia will always be Ukraine’s neighbor and that Ukraine must prepare for this.
