Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate, said that he often fought in the combat zone alongside his soldiers and officers and found ways to boost the morale of his troops.
"Sometimes there is no other way. Because we are all human beings. And everyone is sometimes scared. Sometimes I find ways to do it," he told journalist Dmytro Komarov in his documentary "Year. Kharkiv Region".
Asked whether the risk of Ukraine losing the head of intelligence during the war was justified, Budanov said that this was a purely rhetorical question.
"If there was a positive result, then it was done correctly. If there was no positive result, then there were mistakes. Success is never blamed," he explained.
According to earlier reports, Budanov took part in some special operations of his agency. In particular, during one of them, he forced 19 Russians to surrender in a personal conversation on the radio.