Zelensky wants to 'restart' Ukraine's struggle for survival with Russia with new leaders

To give the fight against Russia a “new start”, President Volodymyr Zelensky wants to replace part of Ukraine's military and civilian leadership. Zelensky said this on Sunday evening an interview with the Italian television channel RAI, in response to questions about his intention to replace the commander of the armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny.

There has been speculation in Ukraine since November last year about the deteriorated relationship between Zelensky and his top general, who are said to have disagreements in various areas. The fact that things no longer get along between the two could partly be due to the failed Ukrainian summer offensive, which hardly gave Kyiv any territorial gains. Both also disagree about the need for a new mobilization for the war against Russia and its implementation.

Those tensions between the country's civilian and military leaders appeared to have reached a breaking point last week, as reports of Zaluzhny's impending resignation emerged. Initially, the Defense Ministry denied that Zelensky intended to replace the general. A day later it became prevalent foreign media Zaluzhny is said to have rejected an offer from Zelensky to accept another position.

'A reset is needed'

On Sunday evening, Zelensky announced the change of guard in the army leadership, but as part of a broader reshuffle of the civilian and military leadership. When asked whether Zelensky was thinking of replacing General Zaluzhny, he said: “A 'reset' is needed, a new beginning.” According to him, it is “not about a single person, but about the direction of the country's leadership.”

Zelensky said his reshuffle entails “the replacement of a series of national leaders, not just in a single sector, such as the military.” “If we want to win, we must all move in the same direction, convinced of victory. We cannot get discouraged and drop our weapons, we must have the right positive energy.”

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It is not known which officials Zelensky wants to replace. But the reorganization of the civilian and military leadership comes at a crucial moment in the war against Russia: the Ukrainian armed forces have been put on the defensive in many places along the thousand-kilometer front line during the Russian winter offensive. In particular, the situation around the industrial town of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region appears increasingly bleak for the Ukrainian defenders. Conquest of largely destroyed Avdiivka would be the first significant Russian military success since the capture of Bachmut in May last year.

The Ukrainian armed forces are also facing an increasing shortage of weapons and ammunition, partly because American military support has been at a standstill since the start of the new year. According to many military analysts, Ukraine will be mainly on the defensive by 2024 and the government in Kyiv must hope for new military support from its Western allies – not only the US, but also the European NATO countries.

Popular general

Partly due to the difficult situation at the front, the discussion about a new mobilization is extra confrontational, both for the government and for the population. In recent months, Zaluzhny asked Zelensky for the mobilization of about half a million additional people, but the president rejected that request, partly because there was insufficient clarity about its financing and whether new recruits could be armed . In addition, Zelensky realizes that a new round of mobilization will not meet with much sympathy among the population.

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In the meantime, Zelensky is also busy dealing with fraudulent practices and corruption in both the civilian administration and the armed forces; He already dismissed several members of his cabinet during the war, including Defense Minister Oleksi Reznikov, but also the heads of all recruitment agencies in the country – due to large-scale corruption suspicions.

There are no indications that Zaluzhny is being pushed aside for that reason. The fifty-year-old top general is also extremely popular among the Ukrainian population. So popular that there are serious doubts in political circles about Zaluzhny's resignation. So stated former President Petro Poroshenko at the American channel NBC that Ukrainian unity would be hit “bull's-eye.” “Unit [in Oekraïne] is and will only be possible around the armed forces,” Poroshenko said. “And Valery Zaluzhny is the personification of that.”

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