Ukraine’s president is fuelling talk that he will replace the popular General Valery Zaluzhny — and that his shake-up may not stop at the military
Vitali Klitschko, the mayor of Kyiv, has hit out at President Zelensky after he suggested that he was on the verge of dismissing the immensely popular head of Ukraine’s armed forces as part of a sweeping change of senior officials.
“A reset, a new beginning is necessary,” Zelensky told the Italian media outlet Rai News when asked about rumours that he intended to replace General Valery Zaluzhny. “When we talk about this, I mean the replacement of a whole number of senior government officials, not just in a particular sector, such as the military.”
Zelensky added: “If we want to win, we must all push in the same direction, convinced of victory. We cannot be discouraged, let ourselves down, we must have the right positive energy.” He did not name other officials he was considering replacing.
Despite Ukraine’s unsuccessful summer counteroffensive, Zaluzhny remains Ukraine’s most trusted public figure, with a rating of just over 90 per cent, according to opinion polls by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. Zelensky is in second place with 77 per cent. The same pollster found that about 75 per cent of Ukrainians would disapprove of the dismissal of Zaluzhny, a gruff and no-nonsense general who has led the country’s armed forces since 2021. Only 2 per cent would welcome it.
Klitschko warned that the dismissal of Zaluzhny could have an adverse effect on Ukrainian society, saying that the general was the reason why people “truly trust the armed forces”. He has also previously criticised Zelensky over what he said were his authoritarian tendencies, as well as his “mistakes” at the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022.
“Today is a moment when politics might prevail over reason and [the] country’s interests,” Klitschko wrote on his Telegram channel. “I hope the authorities understand the seriousness of the steps they are taking now and the fullness of their responsibility. When Ukraine is literally fighting for its existence, the main thing is the combat effectiveness and coherence of the army and the unity of society.”
Zelensky is thought to have summoned Zaluzhny to a meeting last week to offer him the chance to resign rather than be fired. The general is said to have replied that he would accept dismissal but not resign.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior presidential adviser, said Zelensky’s office was carrying out a review of the actions of the armed forces over the past two years, after which an “appropriate decision” would be taken. His comments came as at least four people were killed by Russian artillery attacks in the besieged city of Kherson in Ukraine’s south. A two-month-old baby also died when Russian missiles hit a hotel in the Kharkiv region.
The rift between Zelensky and Zaluzhny came into the open in November, when the general told The Economist that the war had reached a stalemate. A spokesman for the presidential office told national television that the comment had caused “panic” among Ukraine’s western allies. Zelensky is also believed to be at odds with Zaluzhny over the army’s reported demand for half a million new conscripts.
Replacing Zaluzhny almost two years into the war would be massively unpopular with Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst in Kyiv, said. However, he said the army understood that any serious challenge to Zelensky would play into Russia’s hands.
“I don’t expect a military coup. Ukrainian military people are quite disciplined and they understand that a rebellion during wartime is fraught with the danger of military defeat,” he said. “In addition, not all military commanders support Zaluzhny. But there will be strong discontent both in the army and in society.”
Many doubt that any replacement would be an improvement on Zaluzhny. “What’s the new approach and who is out there to ensure it? I don’t see who would suggest a totally different strategy and make it work,” Illia Ponomarenko, a Ukrainian war correspondent, wrote on Twitter/X.
The Ukrainian government has told the White House of its decision to fire Zaluzhny, The Washington Post reported last week, citing US officials as saying Washington gave no objection or endorsement. The United States has been Ukraine’s main provider of military assistance, but a new $60 billion aid package has been held up over a row in Congress.
In the Donetsk region, Ukrainian troops near the front line were wary of a sudden change to the country’s military leadership. “This dismissal would not be appropriate now, because on the field of battle you do not change commanders,” a soldier who goes by the call sign Tiger told Reuters. Another said it was wrong to blame Zaluzhny for the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukrainian military intelligence, is said to be Zelensky’s preferred replacement. However, he has no experience of commanding such a large force and some reports have suggested that he would be reluctant to take the role.
Ukrainian media reports said on Monday that Zelensky was also likely to replace Serhii Shaptala, the chief of Ukraine’s general staff. In a move that was widely seen as a response to their likely dismissals, Zaluzhny posted a birthday greeting to Shaptala on Facebook: “We still have a very difficult path ahead, but we will definitely never feel ashamed. I am happy that in this life and during the war, you have been by my side — a person to whom Ukraine truly means everything.”
The interview with Zelensky was published as he visited soldiers in the frontline village of Robotyne in southeast Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region. Kyiv’s forces liberated the village in the summer but Russia is now seeking to recapture the area. Unlike President Putin, Zelensky has often ventured to some of the hottest spots of the war.
Dismissing Zaluzhny could make him a rival for the presidency. Although Zaluzhny has not given any indication that he has political ambitions, Zelensky’s critics see him as an eventual replacement for the president. Ukraine was due to hold presidential elections in March, but they have been postponed indefinitely under martial law that was imposed at the start of the war almost two years ago. The decision has been accepted by the vast majority of Ukrainians.
“If Zaluzhny is fired, a broad coalition of opposition forces will begin to form around him. He will acquire the informal status of a political alternative to Zelensky and a future candidate for the post of president,” Fesenko said. “It is highly likely that the opposition will begin to raise the issue of the need for presidential and parliamentary elections even during the war.”
Although Zelensky has not made any direct criticism of Zaluzhny, Maryana Bezuhla, an MP from his ruling Servant of the People party, caused an uproar in November when she suggested that the general should be replaced over what she said were failures in military strategy.
In Moscow, Putin’s spokesman said on Monday that the killing of dozens of people in a Russian-held area of eastern Ukraine was a “monstrous terrorist act” that was carried out by Kyiv’s forces. Dmitry Peskov said that 28 people, including a child, died when Ukrainian missiles hit a bakery in the city of Lysychansk on Saturday. The Kremlin alleged that the attack was carried out with western-supplied weapons. Kyiv has not commented.
