President Zelensky has announced the dismissal of Ukraine’s top commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in the biggest military shakeup since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The president’s move follows tensions between Zelensky and his hugely popular military chief after the failure of Ukraine’s much-vaunted counteroffensive, and with Ukraine facing a renewed Russian onslaught, manpower and ammunition shortages, and US aid stalled in Congress, reports CNN.
Zaluzhnyi’s replacement will be Oleksandr Syrskyi, the Commander of Ukrainian Land Forces since 2019.
Zaluzhnyi wrote on his Telegram channel on Thursday that „the tasks of 2022 are different from those of 2024 [..] Therefore, everyone must change and adapt to the new realities as well. [We] have just met with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It was an important and serious conversation. It was decided that we need to change our approaches and strategy.”
Zelensky’s office initially denied the rumori which had been circulating Kiev, but the dismissal was confirmed on Thursday.
Zaluzhnyi – who had been appointed army chief by Zelensky in July 2021 – was offered a new position by the president, which he turned down, according to one of the sources.
It remains unclear whether Zaluzhnyi has decided to remain involved with the military in some capacity.
Differences between the president and the commander-in-chief had been simmering for many months but appeared to grow wider towards the end of last year, after Zaluzhnyi said the war had reached a stalemate in a long essay and interview in The Economist magazine in November.
The interview drew immediate criticism from Zelensky’s office, which said such commentary about the war only benefitted Russia.
More recently, the two leaders clashed over whether Ukraine needed a mass mobilization effort: the army chief had suggested up to half a million draftees were required, which Zelensky resisted.
The president told a press conference in December mobilization was a „highly sensitive” issue – not only for human but also financial reasons – and that he wanted to hear more arguments in favor before he felt fully ready to back the move.
Writing exclusively for CNN last week as rumors mounted, Zaluzhnyi made clear his frustrations over the issue, referring to „the inability of state institutions in Ukraine to improve the manpower levels of our armed forces without the use of unpopular measures”.
The remarks were highly unusual for a man generally reluctant to speak publicly, CNN points out.
When Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, many of Ukraine’s allies feared Kyiv would fall in just a few days and the rest of the country within weeks. But Ukraine’s troops, under Zaluzhnyi’s direction, were able to drive Moscow’s forces from the capital and later in the year managed to reclaim large parts of the southern and eastern territories occupied by Russia in the early weeks of the war.
Zaluzhnyi’s firing is a political gamble for Zelensky. Despite the failure of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, the now-former military chief remains one of the most popular leaders in the country.
A poll by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology found 88% of Ukrainians supported the general. Meanwhile, Zelensky’s approval rating, though also high, was markedly lower at 62%.
Analysts have long speculated about whether Zaluzhnyi could one day emerge as a political rival to Zelensky in future elections, although the general has shown scant political ambition so far.
Zaluzhnyi also suggested Ukraine’s leadership had not tackled problems in the defense industries which had led to production bottlenecks and ammunition shortages.
He said the best way for Ukraine’s army to avoid being drawn into a „positional war”, in which fighting is conducted along permanent and fortified frontlines, is for Ukraine to „master” „nmanned weapons systems – or drones – which Zaluzhnyi called the “central driver of this war.”
He will now be replaced by the 59-year-old Syrskyi, who began his soldiering career during the last years of the Soviet Union, training in Moscow.
Following Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Syrskyi led the defense of Kyiv, and then later that year commanded the successful counteroffensive in the region of Kharkiv, which saw Russian forces driven out of hundreds of settlements.
“You do not dismiss the Commander-in-Chief in the middle of a war. Nothing good will come of it. It is playing into the hands of the Russians”, one commander told CNN on condition of anonymity.
