Zaluzhnyi proposed to attack Belgorod in 2022, but political leadership was not interested in it — Nazarov
Former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi proposed to carry out a military operation on the territory of the aggressor country, russia, in 2022. It was about an offensive in the Belgorod or Kursk Oblasts of the russian federation.
Zaluzhnyi’s advisor and consultant, Major General of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Viktor Nazarov has said this in an interview with BBC News.
According to him, at the end of December 2022, at one of the meetings of the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) of Ukraine, Zaluzhnyi announced the details of the operation.
"In the version that we announced, it was about the Belgorod Oblast. Such directions of action were proposed in order to create a very serious threat to the enemy. From my side, there was a proposal for more decisive goals," said Nazarov.
Zaluzhnyi proposed surrounding or blocking Belgorod, a regional center located approximately 25 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
Nazarov added that, in Zaluzhnyi’s opinion, this would make it possible to deprive the russians of the opportunity to launch artillery and missile strikes on Kharkiv, as well as create a threat to the northeastern flank of the supply of material resources for the russian army grouping located in the east of Ukraine.
However, Nazarov claims that the political leadership of Ukraine was allegedly not interested in Zaluzhnyi’s proposal.
"I got the impression that no one was interested in them. And then began what began, and this is what we saw throughout 2024," Nazarov said.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on February 8, 2024, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that he had met with Valerii Zaluzhnyi and informed him of the decision to change the leadership of the army.
On this day, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov confirmed information reported by a number of media outlets that Zelenskyy had dismissed Zaluzhnyi from the post of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, who at that time held the position of the Commander of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine instead of Zaluzhnyi.