AFP Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Zaluzhny during his press conference
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 22:15
Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny denied at a press conference that he had asked President Zelensky for 500,000 additional troops. He also criticized the agencies responsible for the mobilization of the Ukrainian army. He said, among other things, that he is currently not satisfied with the way the mobilization offices are doing their work.
Last week, Zelensky said the army had asked him for half a million additional troops, although the government and military leadership had not yet made a decision on this “very sensitive” mobilization issue. “This is a very serious number and I need more arguments to support this idea.”
Zaluzhny contradicted Zelensky’s words today. He confirmed the figure, but said the military had not asked for it. According to the general, it is a general plan and a gradual replenishment of the troops
Yesterday, the Ukrainian parliament published the text of a bill on reforms to the military conscription program. One of the changes is lowering the mobilization age from 27 to 25 years. The draft version of the bill sparked criticism on social media.
Conflict
Zaluzhny makes his statements against the background of tensions in the army leadership and a growing conflict between him and Zelensky. The popular Zaluzhny has been commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces for almost 2.5 years, but often remains in the background. It was the first time since the outbreak of war that he gave a press conference.
This is not the first time Zaluzhny has spoken out about Ukrainian warfare. In an opinion piece in the British magazine The Economist last month, he wrote that the war has reached a stalemate, which is to Russia’s advantage in the long term. Zelensky hastened to publicly contradict this and called on military leaders “not to interfere in politics.”
In today’s press conference, Zaluzhny referred to the opinion piece. “I got a lot of criticism for this, but over time people realized I was absolutely right,” he said.
‘War will be different’
The war will be different in 2024 than in 2023, Zaluzhny said at the press conference, “Otherwise we can expect what I wrote in the article to happen.” In his op-ed, he noted that the war is turning into a war of attrition and that high technology is the only way to win.
He also reflected on the achievements of the Ukrainian army, “We had quite ambitious goals in 2023”. Those goals were adjusted halfway through the year. While the previous plans focused on attacking one place along the front, the strategy was adjusted in mid-summer to exhaust the Russian troops.
Zaluzhny was responsible for the counter-offensive and remains popular, although the army made few territorial gains this year.
Russia
Russian Defense Minister Shoigu also looked back today on military developments in 2023. According to Shoigu, the main goal of the Russian army was to disrupt the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian armed forces. “That task has been successfully accomplished,” the minister said.
2023-12-26 21:15:12
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