Zelensky dismisses commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, dismissed this Thursday (8) the commander-in-chief of the country's Armed Forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi. According to information from American broadcaster CNN, the replacement will be Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian Land Forces since 2019.

In a statement published by international websites, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov commented on the decision.

“General Valerii Zaluzhnyi had one of the most difficult tasks: leading the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the Great War with Russia. But the war does not stay the same. War changes and demands change. The battles of 2022, 2023 and 2024 are three different realities. The year 2024 will bring new changes, for which we must be prepared. New approaches, new strategies are needed. Today, a decision was made on the need to change the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. I am sincerely grateful to Valerii Fedorovych for all his achievements and victories,” the minister wrote.

Zelensky and Zaluzhnyi had been expressing differences over the Ukrainian response to the Russian invasion, which marks two years on the 24th. These differences were exacerbated by the lower-than-expected results of the counteroffensive that began in mid-2023.

Recently, Zaluzhnyi displeased the president of Ukraine by saying in an interview with The Economist magazine that the war against Russia had reached an impasse.

On Telegram, Zaluzhnyi wrote this Thursday that “the challenges of 2022 are different from those of 2024”.

“Therefore, everyone must also change and adapt to new realities. We just met with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Zelensky]. It was an important and serious conversation. It was decided that we needed to change our approaches and strategy,” he said.

At X, Zelensky confirmed the meeting with Zaluzhnyi and said he thanked him “for the two years of defending Ukraine” and that it was time for a renewal in the leadership of the Armed Forces.

“The time for such renewal is now. I proposed to General Zaluzhnyi to continue being part of the team. We will definitely win! Glory to Ukraine!” wrote the Ukrainian president.