General Valery Zalushny enjoys great acclaim, but the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive has cost him the president's favor.
It started as a conversation on social media, namely on Telegram accounts very close to the Ukrainian military. But this is an article for Tuesday Financial Times Ukraine's president is coming to confirm that he is preparing to replace the popular General Valery Zalushny as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
The British publication writes that this may be the biggest shakeup in the Ukrainian army since the war with Russia began.
Volodymyr Zelensky offered the soldier a new role, but Zaluzhny declined, according to four sources close to the matter. Two of them say the Ukrainian president made it clear to the general that he would be removed from his current post, even if he did not accept the new post.
Despite this, Zalushni continues to lead the army. Termination is not immediate and may take some time to take effect.
Publicly, Ukrainian authorities insist on denying this situation. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense wrote on the Telegram channel that the report was “not true”, although it did not provide additional context.
If the replacement is confirmed, it comes after months of speculation over the fate of Zalushny, who is popular among Ukrainians even after a failed counteroffensive that ended the winter.
Also, the counteroffensive was a breaking point between Zaluzhny and Zelensky, with the president's office chastising the general for using the word “stalemate” when referring to the counteroffensive's limited success.
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