Politico cited disagreements with the Pentagon as the reason for Zaluzhny’s resignation

The reason for the resignation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Valeriy Zaluzhny, is the refusal to follow the Pentagon’s recommendations for a counter-offensive in the summer of 2023, which ended in the failure of the Ukrainian army. He writes about this on February 8 Politico.

According to the publication, there were tensions between Zaluzhny and the US Department of Defense over how to conduct a counteroffensive.

“The Pentagon insisted that the Ukrainian military launch a powerful strike, focusing on one area where it believed [американских] planners, a breakthrough was possible. Instead, Kyiv opted for several attacks along the entire front, believing that this would make it more difficult for the Russians to send reinforcements to different points,” the publication says.

Politico's source indicated that after several weeks of disagreement, it became clear that the Ukrainian side “simply is not interested in US advice” and that, in its opinion, the US military “has nothing to offer them in terms of advice.” Kyiv’s argument was that the United States has no experience in waging such a war, the publication’s interlocutor explained.

As noted in the article, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky informed the United States about the decision to dismiss the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and did not encounter any opposition there. Washington refused to participate in resolving this issue, the publication writes.

Earlier that day, Zelensky dismissed Zaluzhny and appointed Alexander Syrsky, who had served as commander of the ground forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces since 2019, to this position. The Ukrainian leader thanked the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for his work and invited him to continue to remain on the team.

Before this, on February 4, Zelensky confirmed that the country’s administrative apparatus needs personnel renewal and this applies not only to its military component.

Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Borislav Bereza announced Zaluzhny’s removal from office on January 29. Verkhovna Rada deputy Alexey Goncharenko (included in the Rosfinmonitoring list of terrorists and extremists) later also confirmed this information. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the press secretary of the country’s president, Sergei Nikiforov, initially denied this information.

The split between the President of Ukraine and the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces began to be discussed after November 1, 2023, when Zaluzhny, in an interview with The Economist, said that Ukrainian troops could not achieve a breakthrough because the conflict had reached a dead end. Prolongation of hostilities carries great risks for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, he noted. Zelensky did not agree with the opinion of the commander in chief.