MOSCOW, February 1. /TASS/. The long-expected dismissal of Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny may be a "matter of hours" but is being delayed by snags in the process of lining up a viable replacement, RBC-Ukraine said, citing sources in the Ukrainian presidential office.
Kirill Budanov, head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), and Ukrainian Ground Forces Commander Colonel General Alexander Syrsky remain the primary potential candidates for the post, once Zaluzhny is finally ousted. The news agency refuted rumors that the two prospects had allegedly definitively rejected offers to take the position. According to its sources, the two have not ruled out accepting the top commander’s post, but are approaching it with caution due to high degree of responsibility it entails.
According to one of the sources, due to difficulties in identifying a potential replacement for Zaluzhny, the reshuffle among Kiev’s top brass may take as long as several weeks, which should allow the Ukrainian presidential office to soft-pedal any negative domestic or Western publicity in reaction to the popular general leaving his post.
RBC-Ukraine also notes that, even though differences of opinion between Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Zaluzhny have been snowballing ever since the spring of 2022, the failure of the 2023 summer "counteroffensive," which was orchestrated by Zaluzhny, became the deciding factor driving the general’s impending downfall, especially given Zaluzhny’s ultimate failure to carry out his vow to "break through" Russian defenses.
Situation around Zaluzhny
On Monday, former Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) lawmaker Borislav Bereza said that Zaluzhny had been removed from the post of Ukraine’s top military commander. For his part, Verkhovna Rada member Alexey Goncharenko (listed as a terrorist and extremist by Russia's Federal Service for Financial Monitoring) said that Zaluzhny had been notified of his dismissal, but that there had been no official decree to that effect. Later, Ukrainian presidential spokesman Sergey Nikiforov said that Zelensky had not fired Zaluzhny. However, speculation about Zaluzhny’s future continues to swirl in the Ukrainian media and on social networks.
On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that Zelensky had already made up his mind to dismiss Zaluzhny, but that the official announcement may be postponed. Later, CNN clarified that the official decree sacking the commander would be signed by the end of this week.
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that there are a lot of questions about the news of Zaluzhny’s dismissal but it is obvious that "everything is not going well" for the Kiev regime. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asserted that the situation around Zaluzhny vividly reflects the death throes and disintegration of Ukraine's statehood.