Budanov: Russia mistook summer 2025 protests in Ukraine for a coup and expected capitulation

On August 28, 2025, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Presidential Office, revealed that Russia had mistaken peaceful protests in Ukraine defending the independence of anti-corruption bodies for a potential coup attempt. The comments were made during an interview with Ukrainian TV broadcasters. According to Budanov, Moscow believed that the ongoing war could soon come to an end.

During a round of talks with Russian representatives, his counterparts informed Budanov that "the war was over" and that there was no point in continuing the negotiations. When Budanov asked for an explanation, the Russians stated that they believed the Ukrainian protests were orchestrated by Western powers. Budanov recounted their remarks, saying, "They said, ‘We know everything.

Westerners have invested in this. Everything will fall into place now. In principle, the meeting went well, but we’ll discuss other conditions now. You will have a different country.”'

The Russians also insisted that Budanov did not understand the situation and failed to recognize that the protests were being controlled by "Western agents." It was later acknowledged by Russian negotiators that they had initially misunderstood the protests and had hoped to capitalize on the situation; however, their expectations were not met.

In July 2025, mass protests erupted across Ukraine following the curtailment of the independence of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) by a controversial bill passed by the Ukrainian parliament and subsequently signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.