Volodymyr Zelenskyy prepares to replace Ukraine’s top general

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is preparing to replace his top general in what would be the biggest shake-up of Ukraine’s military command since Russia’s full-scale invasion began two years ago.

Zelenskyy on Monday offered Valeriy Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, a new role but the general refused, according to four people familiar with the discussions.

Two of them said Zelenskyy had made clear to Zaluzhny that regardless of whether he took the role, he would be removed from his current position.

The four people cautioned that Zelenskyy had not yet dismissed Zaluzhny and might not do so for some time after reports of the general’s ousting appeared in Ukrainian media.

On Monday, Zelenskyy’s spokesperson, Serhiy Nykyforov, and the defence ministry denied reports about Zaluzhny’s dismissal.

“Dear journalists, we immediately answer everyone: No, this is not true,” the ministry wrote on its Telegram channel without providing additional context. The president’s office declined to comment further on Tuesday.

The president’s offer of a new role to Zaluzhny follows months of speculation about his fate, fed by repeated reports of tension between the two men.

Their strained relationship spilled into the open in November last year after Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive failed to achieve its ambitious goals of retaking lost territory and cutting off Russia’s land bridge to Crimea. Zaluzhny then said that the war had reached a “stalemate”. The president’s office castigated him for using the term.

Replacing Zaluzhny would also cause an uproar within Ukraine’s rank-and-file military and civil society, among whom the general enjoys huge support.

“This will have a very, very negative impact on the [morale] of the army,” Ukrainian military historian Mykhailo Zhyrokhov told Kyiv’s Radio NV, while adding the caveat that he believed the rumours to be “fabrication”.

Replacing Zaluzhny could also unnerve Ukraine’s western partners, including military officials who have worked closely with the general over the past two years when devising battlefield strategies. And it would come at a critical moment in the war, as Kyiv waits to see whether billions of dollars worth of critical military and financial assistance from the US and EU will come through.

Zaluzhny has not commented on the reports of his dismissal, although on Monday he published an undated selfie with his chief of the general staff Serhiy Shaptala on Facebook in which both were wearing Ukrainian army sweatshirts. The post was shared more than 2,000 times and received hundreds of supportive comments within minutes of being published.

Reports of Zaluzhny’s imminent ousting began circulating on Monday evening in local media, on anonymous local Telegram channels and in public comments from politicians closely aligned with former president Petro Poroshenko, whom Zelenskyy defeated in the 2019 election.

But four people with knowledge of the situation told the Financial Times that a decision had been made in Zelenskyy’s office to dismiss Zaluzhny from his post.

What remains to be worked out, according to all four people with knowledge of the issue, is the timeline of Zaluzhny’s departure, whether he will accept a new role and who would replace him as commander-in-chief.

Possible candidates for the position are Oleksandr Syrsky, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, and Kyrylo Budanov, the head of the country’s military intelligence directorate. Both men are close to Zelenskyy.

Ukrainian news outlet Mirror of the Week also reported this series of events, citing its sources in Zelenskyy’s office. Several other media cited sources as telling them that Zaluzhny had been dismissed or would be let go imminently.

A four-star career military man dubbed the “Iron General” by admirers, Zaluzhny, 50, was appointed by Zelenskyy to the post of commander-in-chief in July 2021, and has overseen the Ukrainian military’s operations since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

He is credited with orchestrating several of Ukraine’s military successes, including the defence of Kyiv in the first days of Russia’s invasion, and the successful counteroffensives in the eastern Kharkiv region and the southern regional capital of Kherson in autumn 2022.

In a Ukrainian poll released in December, 88 per cent of Ukrainians said they trusted Zaluzhny compared with 62 per cent who said they trusted Zelenskyy. Viewed as a potential political competitor, Zelenskyy has reportedly sought to keep Zaluzhny out of the public eye and bypassed him during key moments of the war by communicating orders to the general’s subordinates.