Officials in Ukraine denied that its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was poised to sack its popular top general, Valery Zaluzhnyi, as Washington warned that Russia could reoccupy liberated areas of Ukraine if the US Congress continued to block new military aid for Kyiv.
Numerous Ukrainian media, politicians and analysts reported indications on Monday night that Mr Zelenskiy had decided to replace Gen Zaluzhnyi, who has commanded the country’s armed forces through almost two years of full-scale war with its huge neighbour.
Polls show that both men enjoy a high degree of public trust in Ukraine, but they have reportedly disagreed on issues including preparations for Russia’s full-scale invasion, battlefield priorities at certain stages of the war and Gen Zaluzhnyi’s recent claim that the conflict is at a stalemate following Kyiv’s failed summer counteroffensive. Some members of Mr Zelenskiy’s team also suspect the military man of having grand political ambitions.
“Absolutely not. The president has not dismissed the commander-in-chief,” Mr Zelenskiy’s spokesman, Serhiy Nykyforov, told the Ukrainska Pravda news outlet, which cited a source in Ukraine’s national security and defence council as saying Gen Zaluzhnyi had been summoned to the presidential administration and offered another job, which he refused.
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The defence ministry in Kyiv said in a one-line post on social media: “Dear journalists, we answer everyone immediately: No, this is not true.”
Some reports suggested that Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s GUR military intelligence agency, could replace Gen Zaluzhnyi.
Mr Budanov is also popular and well respected, but the sacking of Gen Zaluzhnyi could be disruptive at a time when Ukraine’s forces are switching to a more defensive posture amid heavy Russian attacks in the east and as political disputes in the US and Europe cause uncertainty over future arms supplies.
A poll in December by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology revealed that only 2 per cent of Ukrainians would support Mr Zelenskiy sacking Gen Zaluzhnyi, and 72 per cent would view it “negatively”. The survey showed that Gen Zaluzhnyi enjoyed the trust of 92 per cent of those polled, compared to 77 per cent for Mr Zelenskiy.
After talks in Washington, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said western politicians should give Ukraine the financial and military support needed to hold back – and eventually defeat – Russia’s invasion force.
“There is no other magic pot of money, and we are now currently out of the military assistance that we’ve been providing to Ukraine, and we’re even seeing some evidence of what that means on the battlefield. So it is absolutely vital, absolutely urgent that we do it,” Mr Blinken said of a White House request for $61 billion (€56 billion) in aid for Ukraine that Republicans are blocking.
“Without it, simply put, everything that Ukrainians achieved and that we’ve helped them achieve will be in jeopardy,” he said.
Ukraine said Moscow’s military launched 35 attack drones and two missiles at the country early on Tuesday, while Russia said it intercepted 21 drones fired by Kyiv’s forces.
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