Photo copyrightUkraine presidential Office
8 February 2024, 16:21 GMT
Updated 11 minutes ago
President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky dismissed Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and appointed in his place the commander of the group of Ukrainian troops on the eastern front, Colonel-General Alexander Syrsky.
“Starting today, a new team begins to lead the Armed Forces of Ukraine […] I appointed Colonel General Syrsky as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Zelensky announced in a video message.
Protracted dismissal
The Ukrainian press has been writing for at least the last few weeks that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has decided to dismiss Zaluzhny from his post.
At the end of last year, numerous observers and media sources reported a conflict between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Valery Zaluzhny.
The military general, who managed to stop the Russian invasion and recapture part of the occupied territory, is now one of the most popular people in Ukraine.
According to Western media, Zelensky was irritated by the growing popularity of Zaluzhny and his interviews, in which he announced a deadlock at the front and a transition to trench warfare.
Representatives of the Ukrainian government denied that such a conflict was taking place.
Zaluzhny’s reproaches
At the end of January, Zaluzhny wrote an article about a new strategy that, in his opinion, Kyiv should use to win the war with Russia.
In this article, he, among other things, accused the country’s state institutions of unwillingness to take unpopular measures in order to “improve the state of affairs with the recruitment of the Defense Forces,” that is, to mobilize a sufficient number of citizens into the army, from the point of view of the command.
Zaluzhny’s thoughts were published on the website of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, in an abbreviated form, on the portal of the American television company CNN shortly after many reports about his imminent resignation appeared in the Western and Ukrainian press.
In the article, Zaluzhny wrote about the need for a complete restructuring of combat operations and the abandonment of outdated, stereotypical thinking in the Ukrainian armed forces.
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2024-02-08 16:41:15
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