Reason for Zaluzhnyi's "dismissal" was their disagreement with Zelenskyy about 500,000 mobilized - WP

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly decided to suspend the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, due to disagreements that arose during the discussion on how many Ukrainians needed to be mobilized. A dispute about this allegedly occurred at a meeting a few days ago.

This was reported by the American publication of The Washington Post with reference to a high-ranking official, allegedly familiar with the course of the conversation between Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi.

The publication's interlocutor said that Zelenskyy announced Zaluzhnyi's resignation during a meeting held last Monday, January 29.

At this meeting, they discussed the feasibility of mobilizing about 500,000 Ukrainians, which was previously demanded by Zaluzhnyi and the leadership of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to an interlocutor of The Washington Post, Zelenskyy allegedly said during the meeting that he considered it inappropriate to draft such a large number of soldiers due to the lack of equipment, weapons and places for training.

Zaluzhnyi denied that Ukraine is already short of forces due to mounting losses and must meet the 400,000 new soldiers that russia plans to mobilize.

The publication's interlocutor also added that Zelenskyy allegedly stated that Ukrainians are very tired of the war and that the pace of military aid from Ukraine's international partners is slowing down.

The President allegedly believes that the new Commander-in-Chief may be able to revive the existing situation.

It should be noted that The Washington Post, like a number of other Western media, claims that Zelenskyy, albeit unofficially, has already dismissed Zaluzhnyi.

At the same time, the fact of Zaluzhnyi's removal can only be the corresponding decree of Zelenskyy, which has not been officially published at the moment.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on January 30, the Financial Times reported with reference to its own sources that Zelenskyy decided to wait with the dismissal of Zaluzhnyi.

The President has allegedly already made this decision, but now he is forced to wait for its public disclosure because information about it got into the mass media.

We will remind, on January 29, a number of Ukrainian mass media and anonymous Telegram channels reported that the President allegedly fired the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Later, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and Zelenskyy's press secretary Serhii Nikiforov denied this information.