As a round of peace talks wrapped up earlier this year, Ukrainian negotiators received a surprise offer from the Russians.<\/p>\n
The Ukrainians could fly to Moscow and continue the talks, the Russians suggested. The upside: a potential meeting with President Vladimir V. Putin. The downside: possible arrest, or worse.<\/p>\n
For Kyrylo Budanov, the Ukrainian delegation\u2019s leader at the talks last February in Geneva, the proposal presented a stark choice. He is wanted in Russia on terrorism charges leveled when he was Ukraine\u2019s military spy chief. But he, more than other Ukrainian leaders, has talked openly of needing to do what it takes, however unexpected, to reach a negotiated peace.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m ready for any step that will end the war\u201d if the terms are acceptable to Ukraine, Mr. Budanov, the No. 2 official in the Ukrainian government, said in an interview last weekend in the capital, Kyiv.<\/p>\n
In the end, the proposed trip to Moscow, which was described by Mr. Budanov and has not previously been reported, never came together, and negotiations soon stalled.<\/p>\n
But the episode showed the multiple facets of a man who, analysts say, is seeking to cement a legacy as a soldier who fiercely fought the Russians but went on to take the lead in bringing the bloodshed to a close.<\/p>\n
Russia and Ukraine are currently in an escalatory cycle in the war<\/a>, in part to try to gain the upper hand in eventual settlement talks.<\/p>\n Yet even as the two sides bombard each other with drones and missiles, Mr. Budanov said in the roughly hourlong interview that talks mediated by the Trump administration were expected to resume by late September, days after Russia\u2019s parliamentary election<\/a> and weeks before U.S. midterm elections.<\/p>\n The process, he said, is expected to restart with a visit to Kyiv by Steve Witkoff, the administration\u2019s peace envoy, and Jared Kushner, President Trump\u2019s son-in-law. While Mr. Witkoff and Mr. Kushner have traveled to Moscow several times, they have not been to Kyiv, despite multiple official invitations.<\/p>\n Mr. Budanov, 40, serves as President Volodymyr Zelensky\u2019s chief of staff<\/a> and is a lieutenant general in the Ukrainian military. As he advocates negotiation, he has little left to prove as a soldier who fought the Russians.<\/p>\n During the long-simmering war in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014, Mr. Budanov led commando raids behind enemy lines, including one that killed the son of a Russian general in combat.<\/p>\n He served in a C.I.A.-trained unit in Ukraine\u2019s defense intelligence agency whose head was assassinated in a Russian car bombing in Kyiv. In 2016, a machine gun bullet shattered Mr. Budanov\u2019s elbow. He was treated at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Maryland for months, as his arm was rebuilt. After the 2022 all-out Russian invasion, he helped mastermind some of Ukraine\u2019s most audacious counterattacks.<\/p>\n Mr. Budanov still wears a military-style buzz cut and is known for piercing stares with his dark eyes. In an office adorned with a Christian icon painted on the ceramic plate of an armored vest, he pulled back the curtain a bit on the art of negotiating with mortal enemies.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t waste time trying to prove you\u2019re right, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOf course, we cannot trust one another because we are at war,\u201d Mr. Budanov said. \u201cThat is logical and understandable. At the same time, both sides understand they need to search for a solution. The war cannot be eternal.\u201d<\/p>\n The Ukrainian government has been divided over peace talks. In an analysis, the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center described Mr. Budanov as leading a faction that advocates a settlement rather than risking greater losses. Other Ukrainian leaders, the group said, argue against any major concession, saying it would demoralize the army and society.<\/p>\n