LONDON, January 31. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky has changed his mind about dismissing top military commander Valery Zaluzhny after pressure from other military commanders and international partners, The Times reported, citing sources.

According to the newspaper, Zaluzhny was summoned to the office of the Ukrainian president on January 29. During the meeting, he told Zelensky that the situation on the front for Kiev was not as positive as his advisers told him. Zaluzhny was then offered his resignation. When he refused, Zelensky told him that he himself would sign a decree on his resignation.

The newspaper said that Zaluzhny then returned to his office and informed his subordinates of his dismissal. "I'm packing my things," The Times quoted the top military commander as saying. According to the newspaper, Zelensky was forced to reconsider his decision after pressure from abroad. The Times emphasized that the US and the UK expressed their concern about the reports about the possible resignation of Zaluzhny.

The newspaper added that Head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), Kirill Budanov, and Commander of the Ukrainian military’s ground forces Alexander Syrsky were mentioned as possible successors to Zaluzhny, but both rejected the offer to become the Ukrainian commander-in-chief. The Times stressed that this forced Zelensky to abandon his original plans.

On Monday, former Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) lawmaker Borislav Bereza said that Zaluzhny had been removed from the post of Ukrainian top military commander. For his part, Verkhovna Rada lawmaker Alexey Goncharenko (listed as a terrorist and extremist by Russia's Federal Service for Financial Monitoring) said that two of his sources confirmed this information. He later said that Zaluzhny had been notified of his resignation, but that there had been no decree to that effect. According to the lawmaker, Zaluzhny was offered the post of ambassador to a European country, but the commander-in-chief refused.

The mass media then spread the information that the decree concerning Zaluzhny had already been signed and that Ukrainian military intelligence chief Kirill Budanov would be appointed instead. Some Telegram channels also reported the resignation of Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. At the time, the Defense Ministry said that the information spread was not true. However, this raised questions in the media as to whether the ministry was denying the resignation of both the minister and the commander-in-chief, or just Umerov. Ukrainian presidential spokesman Sergey Nikiforov then said that Zelensky had not fired Zaluzhny.