The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has assured that it is necessary to renew the personnel of the entire administrative apparatus of the country at a time when Ukrainians have been defending themselves against Russian troops for almost two years. Such a reconfiguration of the country’s top leadership bodies would also affect the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valeri Zaluzhni, he said in an interview on Italian RAI television.
It is the first time that the Ukrainian president acknowledges that he is thinking about replacing the head of the Army, with whom he publicly disagreed last fall over the progress of the war. It was in an interview with The Economist. Among other things, Zaluzhni said that the fighting on the front had reached a stalemate. The president publicly expressed his disagreement with this assessment.
Then there were rumors and news of both Zaluzhni’s supposed political aspirations and his imminent departure from the military leadership due to his differences with Zelensky.
“It is a question that has to do with the people who have to guide Ukraine. Surely a restart, a new beginning, is necessary, and when we talk about this I mean a replacement of a series of state leaders, not only of a sector like the military,” he assured the Italian public broadcaster RAI when asked about the general’s future. I am reflecting on this replacement (Zaluzhni’s). “It’s true,” he admitted.
Zelensky also noted that Kyiv needs to “move in a unified direction” and “be sure of victory.”
In the same interview, he indicated a “stagnation” on the front because there were delays in the supply of weapons, and this leads to errors. But he did not consider his counteroffensive last year a failure because at sea “it has given positive results.” According to him, Ukrainian troops have made Russia lose control of the Black Sea, destroying “many” of its ships and creating a corridor for grain.
He encouraged his Western partners to continue supporting Ukraine and thanked the European Union for the new aid package worth 50 billion euros, approved after overcoming the veto of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Zelensky stated that “the Russian army is failing to make significant progress.” “We have detained them,” he said, while explaining that after these months of fighting, Ukraine “is a different country, closer to Europe, with a stronger army and equipped with Western means.”
Speculation about Zaluzhni’s dismissal intensified last week. News of an imminent departure began appearing on Ukrainian Telegram channels on January 29. Interfax-Ukraine and Tsensor.net wrote that there was going to be an agreed resignation with Zelensky. But both the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and the president’s office denied this.
According to The Washington Post, that day there was a tense conversation between the commander in chief and the president, during which it became clear that several issues separated them, including the new military mobilization. Zaluzhni believes additional recruitment is necessary, citing increased Russian firepower and troops. Zelensky, on the other hand, does not believe it is justified at this stage. The New York Times maintained that the military man’s immediate resignation was stopped due to the leak of the information.
However, several international media already considered him expelled last weekend. Two possible replacements were even provided: Kiril Budánov, head of military intelligence; o Olexánder Sirski, commander of the Army.
Valeri Zaluzhni, 50, has been at the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine since 2021. During the conflict with Russia, he has earned the admiration of Ukrainians for directing the operations that repelled the Russian advance on Kyiv at the beginning of the conflict. . They also credit him with the recovery of large areas of territory in Kharkiv (northeast) and Kherson (south).
