In recent weeks there has been any amount of speculation regarding Zelensky’s seemingly permanent world tour—they seek him here, they seek him there, but he’s nowhere to be found in Ukraine. Also absent has been the supposed head of Ukraine’s army, Zaluzhny. There have been all sorts of rumors about his death, dismemberment, hospitalization. For weeks. Finally, embarrassing questions by the Russians smoked him out. Zaluzhny appeared—accompanied by a … minder?—for an interview. But, as Alexander Mercouris pointed out, it was a strange interview. Zaluzhny, while to all appearances uninjured, appeared disengaged and had little to actually say. Mercouris left listeners with the impression that, well, Zaluzhny may be in some sort of custody.
Mercouris also pointed out that the Head of The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine has been very much in evidence during these weeks—his star is clearly in the ascendant. He—Kyrylo Budanov—has been giving a lot of interviews in these recent days, usually of a menacing sort.
For example, I found this tweet plus video today (below). Unfortunately, Twitter no longer allows tweets to be embedded in Substack, so I transcribed from the video. You’ll see that the transcription differs from the tweet, so you’ll get a more accurate version:
Daniella Modos - Cutter -SEN
@DmodosCutter
The head of the GUR of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Kirill Budanov announced plans to physically destroy about 3 million residents of the Crimea.
"After the victory I will go to Sevastopol, this is my hometown. There will be a lot of work. We got 3 million people who lived under the propaganda of the Russian Federation. These are "modified" people who are waiting for physical destruction," Budanov said.
#Terrorists
@ukr_leaks_eng
Q: What city in Crimea will you go to after the victory?
A: Unquestionably Sevastopol will come first. I regard it as my hometown. I was born in Kiev but I spent my entire childhood in Sevastopol.
Q: What about 3 million not-so-loyal people who will come back to Crimea [i.e., will come back to Ukraine when Crimea is retaken by Ukraine--3 million is the current approximate population]?
A: It's not just [that they’re] not-very-loyal. These are people with a modified psyche already. It's not even an ideology--it's a psyche.
Q: And what to do with them?
A: It's very easy. We bring them to justice. In our understanding, for certain people, for their actions there can only be physical destruction. Therefore, there will still be quite a lot of work, which may surprise you a little, but it will not stop at winning. A rather difficult stage awaits us. It will be, one might say, a long-term actual reintegration of our territories. Because, sorry, we're getting 3 million people added right now--the population that has been living under Russian propaganda for three years.
Q: Your famous map has already been shown by many. It'll be like this, right? [Map shows a dismembered Russia.]
A: This is a conceptual view. Let's just put it this way: Will there be new states on [what is current] Russian territory? There will be. The Russians know this very well. The world doesn't need Russia in the form that it is in now. This is absolutely nonsense.
If you’re wondering whether I cut out the part about reconciliation, No, I didn’t.
Is this the guy the Neocons are backing—is that what we’re to infer from the departure of Zelensky and Zaluzhny from the public scene in Ukraine? Whatever the case, why is the US backing a country that promotes guys like Budanov?
Unadulterated evil. Plain. Out in the open. No heart, no compassion, nothing good. Evil, evil, evil. His conscience is seared.
Budanov's got alot of Reinhard Heydrich in him.