President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has announced the resignation of 50-year-old Valery Zaluzhny, who has headed the country's armed forces for more than two years. This was announced by the President in his address to citizens.
Half an hour earlier, he met with Zaluzhny, Zelensky expressed his gratitude for his work.
Alexander Sirsky was appointed new leader. The tense relationship between Zelensky and Zaluzhny intensified in November 2023, but then the resignation did not take place. On January 29, 2024, Zelensky summoned Zaluzhny and announced his intention to release him, but the decree was not signed until February 8.
Before his release, Zaluzhny posted his program column on CNN, in which he outlined his vision on war and a plan of change in the army for the next six months.
The prolonged conflict between the military and political leadership of Ukraine has grown in recent months, especially when discussing Valery Zaluzhny's possible resignation, which has a higher level of support of the population than the President himself. This situation has caused considerable anxiety in society. Ukrainian and Western analysts actively discussed the threat of a major crisis of trust between the country's military and political leadership.
Zaluzhny, who has more than 20 years of military service, was appointed Commander -in -Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in July 2021 on behalf of President Vladimir Zelensky. In an interview with Time, he described his impressions of this purpose as a "blow below the belt", which caused him a knockout effect.
Zaluzhny headed the Ukrainian army during the full -scale invasion of Russia in February 2022. Although the government of Ukraine received criticism for insufficient preparation for the war, experts recognize that the state was able to withstand Russian aggression through the actions of Zaluzhny. He organized a secret redeployment of Ukrainian military resources, including aviation and air defense, and developed a plan for reflecting aggression.
New Yorker magazine claims that Valery Zaluzhny hid his military training even from President Vladimir Zelensky and American partners of Kiev.
According to this information, Zaluzhny did not report Zelensky about the preparation because of the fear that the President, without believing in the possibility of invasion, may require the preparation. As for the Americans, he also hid the information because he was afraid that they would tell about these actions by Zelensky and other persons.
For almost two years of a full -scale war with Russia, Zaluzhny has become a popular figure in both Ukrainian society and in the West.
He was highly appreciated by his Western colleagues, and on the Internet actively shared photo collages and memes with his participation, recognizing his contribution to the first visible victories of Ukraine, such as the defeat of Russians near Kiev, the drowning of the Russian cruiser "Moscow", as well as the release of Kherson and Kharkiv region in the fall of 2022.
Against this background, discussions about the prospects of Zaluzhny as a politician and a probable competitor of President Vladimir Zelensky.
Over the last year, the successes of Ukraine on the front have virtually disappeared - the expected counter -offensive, during which the Ukrainian authorities promised to release, if not Crimea, then the whole Kherson region and the Zaporozhye region, did not produce results.
November 2023 was awarded the publication of the article and interview with Valery Zaluzhny in The British magazine The Economist, which caused the wave and further movement of the events that led to his release. In this appeal, Zaluzhny first acknowledged that the Ukrainian offensive ended without expected successes, and the calculation for the depletion of the Russians was false from the beginning.
He expressed his vision on the necessary technological changes in the country, taking into account the mistakes of past years, and also determined the need to support Western partners.
The dependence of the fate of the war on the position and supply of the event emphasized Zaluzhny, but at the same time noted that much depends on the political leadership of Ukraine.
After that, there were rumors about the possible resignation of Zaluzhny and his conflict with President Zelensky, who had a different view of the course of the war.
The information about this conflict was objected to the presidential team, but the situation was deepened. This tension was exacerbated due to the stable support of the Zaluzhny and the fall of the presidential rating, which was recorded in social polls.
The last expressive confrontation between Zelensky and Zaluzhny was a dispute over the mobilization bill. The President did not want to take responsibility for it, trying to transfer it to the military leadership.
The bill has not yet been approved, and it has been again submitted to Parliament, but it is unknown when it is adopted.
The President's decision could also be influenced by the situation with the possible knocking of the Russian IL-76 aircraft near Belgorod. According to the Russians, Ukrainian captives may be on board. The General Staff acknowledged that the plane could be broken through the Armed Forces, but Russia did not present evidence of prisoners.
In the context of rumors about the probable resignation, on February 1, the American edition of CNN published a column of commander -in -chief, in which he expressed his vision of war and changes in the troops, and criticized the shortcomings in the system of mobilization and work of the defense industry.
Earlier, political scientists emphasized that the decision to release Valery Zaluzhny would be a serious political mistake on the part of President Zelensky, and this can cause a strong political competitor for him.
"The attempt to release Zaluzhny will be the most fatal mistake of the President. It is the worst thing he can do. It will automatically make the Zaluzhny his main competitor," - said political scientist Vladimir Fesenko in the fall of 2023.
According to a survey of the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), held at the end of November-early December 2023, the trust of Ukrainians in the Armed Forces of Ukraine remained unchanged at a high level (96%) during another year.
Although most Ukrainians continue to trust President Vladimir Zelensky, they have decreased significantly. If 84%were trusted in December 2022, then at the end of 2023 this figure decreased to 62%.
A separate study of KIIS in 2023 focused on trust in the commander of Zaluzhny. In the second year of the war, 88% of Ukrainians believed him. However, the attitude towards the President of Zelensky and Zaluzhny was at the same level - the trust in each of them was 59%.
How will Ukrainian society take the resignation of the popular commander -in -chief, who was often called the "father of Zaluzhny"? According to the KIIS survey conducted in December, 72% of Ukrainians do not support the replacement of the Zaluzhny with another general (only 2% support the idea).
