The head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, reacted to talks about his presidential ambitions. This is reported by UNN with reference to Bloomberg.
Details
During the conversation, journalists asked whether Budanov would run for president when the presidential race begins. The head of the OP called the media's question "interesting," but did not answer it and asked to continue the conversation on other topics.
Bloomberg also writes that all interlocutors familiar with Budanov, even on condition of anonymity, refused to discuss his hypothetical presidential ambitions. They explained this by saying that such conversations could harm the country.
Context
Kyrylo Budanov's trust and popularity rating among Ukrainians remains quite high.
A recent Ipsos poll placed him third on the list of most trusted Ukrainians after former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and now Ambassador to Great Britain Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who is regularly named a potential presidential candidate, and boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took only fourth place in this ranking.
Recall
In November 2025, historian Yaroslav Hrytsak named Zaluzhnyi, Biletskyi, and Budanov as possible successors to Zelenskyy. He noted that Ukraine is close to the risk of national collapse due to Russian advances, the economic crisis, and a corruption scandal.