MADRID, November 13. /TASS/. Former adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Alexey Arestovich (who is on Russia’s list of terrorists and extremists), has said that there is a rift between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and the country’s military command.

"The president’s remarks are becoming more and more emotional because of the heat he is getting," he said in an interview with Spain’s El Mundo newspaper. "His policy is not working. The main thing is the botched counteroffensive. The West’s assistance is not used properly. <…> It’s a lack of competence. It has reached its ceiling. <…> There is a conflict between the president and the military."

He said that he agreed with Ukrainian army commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny that the conflict in Ukraine is at an impasse. "Today, we find ourselves in a situation where the commander-in-chief says one thing about the war and the prospects for victory while the president says something absolutely different. This is not a normal situation," Arestovich said, adding that Zelensky is either too "egocentric, or too Ukraine-centric."

"We need trust, not repression," he emphasized. "Education, as well as other important things must be in the Ukrainian language. But if we want to publish a book in Spanish, Russian, or Bulgarian, we should be free to do that." "Because the next step is to suppress the church, which is absolutely ludicrous," he noted. "We can’t go about suppressing the church itself, because the church is not just priests, it’s people."

Earlier, Arestovich, who is now living outside Ukraine, announced his plans to run for Ukrainian president, after which he severely criticized Zelensky and his team. Thus, he accused the country’s leaders of making strategic military mistakes and failing to run the country properly.