President Volodymyr Zelenskyy intends to dismiss the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi. The head of state will probably wait with this because this information got into the mass media.
It was reported by the Financial Times with reference to four sources familiar with the matter.
The publication recalled that information about Zaluzhnyi’s quick resignation began to appear in some mass media and anonymous Telegram channels on Monday evening.
Zelenskyy’s press secretary Serhii Nykyforov and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine denied this information.
Sources told the Financial Times that Zelenskyy has not yet dismissed Zaluzhnyi and may not do it for some time due to the media's exposure.
Two interlocutors of the publication added that Zelenskyy allegedly really offered Zaluzhnyi to take another role, but the Commander-in-Chief refused.
They added that Zelenskyy made it clear to Zaluzhnyi that regardless of whether he accepted the role, he would be removed from his current position.
The publication also reported that Zaluzhnyi can be replaced in the chair of the Commander-in-Chief by the head of the Defense Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Kyrylo Budanov or the commander of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi. Allegedly, they are the possible candidates.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on January 29, a number of Ukrainian mass media and anonymous Telegram channels informed that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allegedly dismissed the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi.
Later, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published a message stating that this information was not true.
After some time, Serhii Nykyforov, Zelenskyy’s press secretary, made a similar statement. According to him, the President did not dismiss the Commander-in-Chief.
We will remind, according to the book of the American journalist Simon Shuster about President Zelenskyy, the Office of the President previously suspected Zaluzhnyi of lust for power.
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