Valerij Zaluzhnyji: The Rising Hero of Ukraine’s Armed Forces

It is BBC which on Wednesday tells the story of the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valerij Zaluzhnyji (49).

Despite the fact that he has had a relatively low-profile connection with the war in Ukraine, Zaluzhnyji has in the last year gained folk hero status among the population.

Opinion polls even suggest that he is challenging President Volodymyr Zelenskyj on the popularity scale, the media house writes.

Zaluzhnyji was appointed as the chief of defense of the Ukrainian military in 2021.

He is described as an ambitious and modern leader, while being unpretentious and joking with his subordinates, writes the BBC. They have spoken to several people who know Zaluzhnyji.

Now he is at the head of the long-announced major offensive into Ukraine, which started on Saturday:

– The brain Ukraine needed

Already in the first months of the war, the arrows began to point upwards for the 49-year-old.

He then received credit for Ukraine’s unexpected resilience in the initial phase.

That gave him a place on the famous list Times Magazine over the world’s 100 most influential people.

– In the midst of the chaos, Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhnyji stood out as the military brain his country needed. His leadership enabled Ukrainian forces to quickly adapt and take the initiative against Russia on the battlefield, US military chief Mark A. Milley wrote in the statement.

– Keep calm

The BBC also writes that Zaluzhnyji made several decisive choices at the start of Russia’s invasion, when Russian forces advanced towards Kyiv.

Among other things, when a proposal appeared to blow up bridges leading into the capital, to prevent the Russians from crossing the Dnipro river.

“Under no circumstances will we do that,” the defense chief is said to have said, according to the media house.

During the first days of the invasion, Zaluzhnyji is also said to have had continuous contact with the soldiers at the front line. He hardly slept, says Lyudmyla Dolhonovsk, a former helper.

– He often spoke on the phone with his generals, but always kept his composure and focus, she says to the BBC.

Rejects rivalry

The media house quotes military experts as saying that the strategy of Zaluzhnyji, with a flatter structure where non-commissioned officers are given more responsibility, has given Ukraine a significant advantage over the more hierarchical Russian model.

With these achievements behind him, it is perhaps not surprising that the defense chief has been given hero status in Ukraine. Despite this, Zelenskyj does not consider him a threat, writes the BBC.

The two managers must be satisfied with focusing on their respective areas.

– He (Zelenskyj) does not need to understand military strategy, in the same way that he does not need to know anything about medicine or bridge building, Zaluzhnyji said in the interview with Time Magazine in 2022.

The defense chief has also, predictably enough, recently ended up on another list:

Namely Russia’s infamous “wanted list” – a list of wanted criminals.

It happened at the end of May, wrote the Reuters news agency.

At the same time, several Russian military bloggers suggested that Zaluzhnyji had been badly injured or killed in the war. The response came at the beginning of June, when the Ukrainian defense published several photos of the chief of defense attending a military ceremony in Kyiv.

Knocked down rumours

A number of defense experts have predicted that Ukraine will face an economic collapse as a result of the great destruction the country has suffered through the war.

In such a scenario, Zaluzhnyji can sail up as a current political actor, believes the analyst Mykola Davydiuk, who has spoken to the BBC.

– While Zelenskyj is the leader who did not abandon the Ukrainians, Zaluzhnyji will be remembered as the leader who defended them.

The media house has tried to get an interview with the defense chief, but he has not wanted to speak.