In 2014, he took part in the war in Donbas, where he was wounded several times and reportedly participated in a number of classified special military operations. In 2016, while still a lieutenant colonel, he reportedly led a special forces unit in an amphibious raid on Russian-occupied Crimea to plant explosives at an airfield. On 4 April 2019, Budanov’s Chevrolet Evanda car was blown up by a Russian with documents in the name of “Alexei Lomaka”, who planted a mine, but it detonated prematurely. On 5 August 2020, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Budanov as head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense. A spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence said in 2023 that there had been more than ten assassination attempts on Budanov.
In 2016, the HUR emblem was changed to an illustration of an owl plunging a sword into Russia. The owl has been said to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the emblem of the Spetsnaz special forces of the Russian GRU, which depicts a bat – a natural prey of the owl.
In addition, the motto “The wise will rule over the stars” (Latin: Sapiens Dominabitur Astris) ostensibly alludes to the GRU’s motto “Only the stars are above us” (Russian: Выше нас только звёзды, romanized: Vyshe nas tolko zvyozdy).
The new emblem was met with outrage from Russian journalists and politicians, including Dmitry Rogozin, with some calling it a provocation. 🙂