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Zelensky intends to fire top military commander along with all his deputies — Rada member

Ukrainian deputy top commander Yevgeny Moisyuk is accused in Russia of shelling Donbass, as well as of killing and injuring more than 100 people

MOSCOW, February 6. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky intends to dismiss all deputies of top military commander Valery Zaluzhny, Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) lawmaker Alexey Goncharenko (listed as a terrorist and extremist by Russia's Federal Service for Financial Monitoring) said.

"Well, all Zaluzhny’s deputies are to be dismissed along with him: Moisyuk, Balan, Zabrodsky," he wrote on his Telegram channel.

Ukrainian deputy top commander Yevgeny Moisyuk is accused in Russia of shelling Donbass, as well as of killing and injuring more than 100 people. In August 2023, he was declared wanted by the Russian Interior Ministry. Mikhail Zabrodsky participated in Kiev's military operation in Donbass; in 2017-2019 he was the commander of Ukraine’s airborne assault troops. Nikolay Balan was the commander of the Ukrainian National Guard until 2022.

Earlier, Zelensky in an interview with Italy’s RAI television acknowledged that he was considering carrying out a reshuffle of the country’s top military brass. He pointed out that he considers it necessary to carry out a personnel upgrade of the entire administrative apparatus of the country, not only its military component.

On January 29, reports about Zaluzhny's resignation appeared in Ukrainian media and social networks. On that day, Zelensky allegedly asked the top military commander to resign voluntarily. According to former Verkhovna Rada member Borislav Bereza, Zaluzhny was offered the post of ambassador to a European country, but the commander-in-chief turned the offer down. The day before, Verkhovna Rada member Yevgeny Shevchenko said that Zaluzhny had agreed to leave Kiev to serve as Ukraine’s ambassador to the Court of St. James’s in London.

Speculation about the general’s fate continues to roil Ukrainian legacy media and social networks. Ukrainian news outlets link the commander-in-chief's dismissal to the failure of Ukraine’s much-hyped summer "counteroffensive" and to Zaluzhny's purported political ambitions. A number of foreign media outlets have confirmed the information about the general’s imminent dismissal, citing sources.

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