CIA trained presidential Chief of Staff in Ukraine implicated in war crimes

It is a classic playbook, really—the kind of historical reruns the Agency loves to produce. From the scorched earth of the Phoenix Program to the dusty chaos of the Contra War, there has always been a particular fondness for "special talent."

You know the type: the operatives, the "fixers," and the ones who don't mind a little red on their ledger if it keeps the gears of empire turning. Now, the project has a new face in Ukraine, and he’s just been handed the keys to the president’s office.

Early this January, the announcement dropped like a silent flashbang: Kyrylo Budanov, a CIA-trained spymaster, is the new Presidential Chief of Staff. Before this promotion, General Budanov was busy running the HUR (Ukraine’s defense intelligence), but his resume goes back much further. He was a star pupil of Unit 2245, an elite squad groomed by the CIA that has been quietly linked to the kind of "work" usually classified as war crimes.

According to Jason Melanovski over at the World Socialist Web Site, Budanov isn’t just a career soldier; he’s a man with heritage. He reportedly maintains direct lines to the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), the ideological heirs of Stepan Bandera. For those who skipped that day in history class, Bandera’s WWII-era outfit was responsible for the systematic liquidation of thousands of Jews and Poles.

Melanovski paints a picture of a man who has supposedly dodged ten assassination attempts and claims to thrive "in darkness." It’s a poetic way of saying he has personally managed a portfolio of "adventurist sabotage," drone strikes, and the clinical removal of both military and civilian targets on Russian soil.

Take, for instance, the case of Illia Kyva. The former head of the Socialist Party in Ukraine’s parliament was "retired" permanently in a Moscow park in December 2023. Ukrainian military intelligence was more than happy to take the credit for that particular hit. Then there are the car bombings and "terrorist" tactics used against Donetsk People's Army commanders, critical journalists, and local officials in eastern Ukraine who had the audacity to vote for rejoining Russia. All of it happened under Budanov’s watch.

Even The New York Times couldn’t help but notice his "audacious" style, noting that his operations often pushed the boundaries of what Western allies—publicly, at least—found acceptable. Back in 2016, he led a commando team into Crimea to plant explosives at an airfield, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake. Later, the FSB pinned the October 2022 Crimean Bridge explosion on him—a blast that sent five civilians to their graves and a chunk of infrastructure into the sea.

The "grooming" process was hardly subtle. After being wounded following the 2014 Maidan coup, Budanov didn't just go to a local clinic; he was flown to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland. The Times called it a "rare accommodation." In the world of intelligence, we call it an investment. It's the standard procedure for identifying a "pawn" with high-office potential—someone who can penetrate a foreign government and ensure it remains a useful tool in the larger geopolitical chess match against Russia.

Beyond his handlers at the CIA, Budanov is reportedly rubbing shoulders with the Trump-adjacent crowd, including Keith Kellogg and J.D. Vance.

"One of the CIA's top guys"—with a very dark ledger

Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat now watching the fallout from Switzerland, was quite blunt in a recent interview with CovertAction Magazine. He claims Budanov was recruited directly by the agency during that medical stint in the States. In Telizhenko's view, Budanov isn’t a patriot; he’s a contractor.

Driven by power and a paycheck, Budanov reportedly told his handlers he’d do whatever was asked. While others in the military hierarchy hesitated—fearful that such "adventurism" might actually destroy Ukraine or spark a global conflict—Budanov saw an elevator to the top. He might not wear a swastika on his sleeve, but Telizhenko suggests his ideology is just as binary: if you aren't for the war, you're a traitor. And traitors get dealt with.

The allegations don't stop at political hits. Telizhenko claims that after the 2014 coup, Budanov led units that treated the Donbas like a personal shopping mall—raiding the homes of the wealthy, killing the inhabitants (women and children included), and fencing the jewelry and art on the Kyiv black market.

Fast forward to last December, and Budanov was allegedly the architect behind a 91-drone swarm targeting Vladimir Putin’s residence. The CIA’s public denial? Purely a PR move to protect a high-value asset, according to Telizhenko.

The real intrigue, however, is why he’s being moved into the chief of staff position now. Telizhenko believes it’s a defensive play. Apparently, there’s a rumor that MI6 has been whispering about a coup to replace Zelensky with General Valerii Zaluzhny. Zelensky, once the darling of the London set via oligarch Victor Pinchuk, is now seen as a liability—a spent force. Budanov is there to act as the ultimate insurance policy.

Of course, in this game, loyalty is a flexible concept. Telizhenko notes that Budanov is a rival himself; if the CIA decided Zelensky’s time was up, Budanov would likely be the one to pull the rug. He isn’t "loyal to Ukraine"—he’s owned by the people who gave him the power.

With as many as 20 CIA bases now operating in the country, Ukraine has become the ultimate launchpad for covert ops into Russia. The linguistic similarities make it easy for operatives to slip across the border undetected.

As Telizhenko puts it, the agency doesn't just "advise" anymore; they control the board, from the journalists to the politicians. Ukraine has effectively traded its sovereignty for a front-row seat in a proxy war, and men like Budanov are making sure the show goes on.