Ukraine’s head of military intelligence, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, has admitted that several Kremlin propagandists have been killed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.
Budanov also said Ukraine wanted to establish a demilitarized border zone up to 60 miles inside Russia to reduce the likelihood of future attacks. The times reports.
Asked if Ukrainian security forces killed Russian propagandists, Budanov, 37, said: “We have already successfully targeted quite a few people. Thanks to media coverage, cases have become known that everyone is aware of.’
Since the beginning of the invasion on February 24 last year, several prominent pro-war figures have been killed or injured by explosives in Russia.
On May 6, 47-year-old Pro-Kremlin ideologue Zakhar Prilepin suffered multiple injuries after a car bomb attack.
When asked whether Ukrainian security forces killed Russian propagandists, Major General Kyrylo Budanov (pictured), 37, said: “We have already successfully targeted quite a few people. Thanks to the media attention, cases have been reported that everyone is aware of’
The vehicle of the Russian writer and pre-war blogger was blown up in a village in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia. He suffered fractures, but his driver was killed in the incident.
Russian investigators noted that they questioned Alexander Permyakov, whom they accused of collaborating with Ukrainian intelligence.
Vladlen Tatarsky, 40, a military blogger with close ties to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed by explosives hidden in a statuette handed to him during a public lecture he gave at a St. Petersburg café on April 2.
Later that month, a Russian court denied bail for Darya Trepova, 26, who was charged with terrorism over the bombing that killed Tatarsky, whose real name was Maxim Fomin.
Investigators said she was working on behalf of a pro-Ukrainian group with connections to imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny — claims rejected by Navalny’s associates and Kiev.
Russia’s interior ministry said yesterday an arrest warrant had been issued for Yuriy Denisov, a Ukrainian national they say kept watch over Tatarsky for two months from an apartment close to his home.
It claimed that he had come over from Latvia on behalf of the ‘Ukrainian special services’.
Vladlen Tatarsky (pictured), 40, a military blogger and an acolyte of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed by explosives handed to him during a public lecture he gave at a St. Petersburg cafe on April 2.
Last August, 29-year-old Darya Dugina, the daughter of a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was killed by a car bomb on a road outside Moscow.
It is thought that her father, Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, known as “Putin’s brain,” may have been the intended target.
Budanov claimed that drone strikes that hit the Kremlin on May 3, apparently with the aim of killing Putin, were the result of “Russian aggression.”
On Different People, a Ukrainian YouTube channel, Budanov said recent acts of sabotage on Russian territory, including attacks on oil and gas infrastructure close to the Ukrainian border and the derailment of a freight train, were “almost 100 percent by citizens of the Russian Federation.”
In another interview with a YouTube channel called Island, Budanov said he had “a minority of Russians” working with his Ukrainian military intelligence agency, the GUR.
He said they had “patriotic reasons” to carry out the deeds and were “ready to change Russia.”
Budanov said that while Putin was a legitimate target, Ukraine was not trying to kill him.
Last August, 29-year-old Darya Dugina (pictured right), the daughter of a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was killed by a car bomb on a road outside Moscow. It is thought that her father, Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin (pictured left), known as “Putin’s brain,” may have been the intended target.
He said his agents would continue to target Russians who committed war crimes against Ukraine.
He said, “These cases have happened and will continue.
“Such people will receive a well-deserved punishment, and the proper punishment can only be liquidation, and I will carry it out.”
Budanov blamed Russian propagandists for Moscow’s increasingly viscous tactics in Ukraine, where Putin found himself in a situation where he would not be able to get out of the other side alive.
He said: ‘[The Kremlin] invested so much in this propaganda machine that it eventually started to influence them.”
Budanov added that the Russian business elite opposed the invasion and sought ways to end it.
He argued that if the Russians succeeded in ending Putin’s rule, Ukraine would still need to set up a demilitarized zone 60 miles inside Russian territory to prevent future conflict.
He added: “This should be our goal. If they don’t attack and decide they want revenge in a few years, this shouldn’t be a problem.’