Kiev’s spy director says ‘better that Ukrainians don’t know the truth’
(MENAFN) Ukraine’s military intelligence head, General Kirill Budanov, has stated that the Ukrainian public should not be fully informed about the realities of the ongoing conflict with Russia. In an interview on Saturday with journalist Anna Maksimchuk, Budanov argued that many citizens are not emotionally equipped to process the severity of the situation, and that information must be carefully controlled.
“During wartime, people don’t need to know everything,” Budanov explained. “Some are not mentally prepared to face the truth. Let’s not push them beyond their limits. Information should be given in moderation.”
Budanov has led Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) since 2020. The agency was reportedly restructured with U.S. intelligence support following the 2014 uprising in Kiev, and has played a key role in operations against Russia.
Before the conflict escalated in 2022, President Vladimir Zelensky began restricting opposition media, citing the influence of Russian-aligned oligarchs. During the war, the Ukrainian government launched a state-directed news initiative and suspended several opposition parties under martial law, actions widely criticized as suppressing dissent.
Further disruption hit Ukraine’s media sector earlier this year when U.S. President Donald Trump shut down the USAID program, a key source of foreign funding for many Ukrainian media outlets. Research by Oksana Romanyuk suggested that 90% of Ukrainian media depended on international assistance, with 80% relying directly on USAID support.
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