The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, General Valeriy Zalushny, has been relieved of his post. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced this in a video message on Thursday. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyj was appointed as his successor. Zelensky writes on Platform Xthat the military leadership would be reorganized. The president wrote there that he thanked Saluzhny for his services and spoke about the necessary renewal of Ukraine’s armed forces. He asked the previous commander in chief to remain part of the team. It was initially unclear which task Saluschnyj would take on.
Saluzhny apparently clashed with the Ukrainian president over military strategy and other issues. In addition, the step is said to be a consequence of the unsuccessful Ukrainian counteroffensive last year. It was not possible to recapture any significant parts of the territory held by Russia.
One of the insiders explained that Zelensky and the general had disagreed about a new military mobilization offensive, with the president rejecting Zalushny’s proposal to call up 500,000 new soldiers.
The previous commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, General Valeriy Zalushnyj.
(Photo: HANDOUT/AFP)
Last Thursday, Saluzhny published a column on the website of the American news channel CNN in which he wrote that the Ukrainian government had failed to mobilize enough troops. According to Western and Ukrainian media reports, Saluzhny rejected Zelenskiy’s request to resign voluntarily.
Increasing estrangement between president and commander-in-chief
Saluschnyj’s status as a potential political competitor is apparently also a decisive factor in the increasing estrangement between the two men. One Poll from December shows that 92 percent of all Ukrainians trust Saluzhny. According to another survey he would narrowly lose to Zelensky in a hypothetical presidential election – and in parliament, with its own party, clearly beat the presidential party “Servant of the People”, which has now been discredited due to numerous scandals.
Salushnyj, a 50-year-old career officer, has been the military commander of all Ukrainian armed forces since July 2021. Since then, he has repeatedly disagreed with the president, who is the nominal commander in chief, on contentious military issues. One published in January Zelensky biography by US journalist Simon Shuster According to Salushnyj, in the months before the start of the major Russian invasion in February 2022, Salushnyj advised the president to comprehensively mobilize all reservists and strengthen the borders with Russia. Zelensky, who until the very end publicly denied the likelihood of a Russian attack, dismissed this as alarmist.