{"id":14932,"date":"2024-02-01T00:46:57","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T00:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/01\/zelensky-set-to-announce-dismissal-of-ukraines-top-commander-within-days-as-rift-grows-over-war-source-says\/"},"modified":"2024-02-01T00:46:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-01T00:46:57","slug":"zelensky-set-to-announce-dismissal-of-ukraines-top-commander-within-days-as-rift-grows-over-war-source-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/01\/zelensky-set-to-announce-dismissal-of-ukraines-top-commander-within-days-as-rift-grows-over-war-source-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Zelensky set to announce dismissal of Ukraine\u2019s top commander within days as rift grows over war, source says"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rumors of the meeting, and Zaluzhny\u2019s dismissal, exploded around Kyiv on Monday evening, lent credibility by a rift widely understood to have opened up between the president and his commander-in-chief following the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive last year. <\/p>\n

Tensions are said to have risen in particular when Zaluzhny described the war with Russia as a stalemate, in an interview and essay with\u00a0The Economist magazine\u00a0in November. <\/p>\n

And in his daily evening address Monday, Zelensky himself made no reference at all to his army chief. <\/p>\n

But according to one of the sources, and in line with other reports, at a small gathering at his office on Monday \u2013 also attended by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov \u2013 the president declared he had \u201cmade a decision to dismiss the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.\u201d <\/p>\n

In a conversation described as \u201ccalm,\u201d Zelensky then proceeded to offer Zaluzhny a different position, which Zaluzhny declined. <\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s president then underlined his decision, saying the fact Zaluzhny had turned down the new\u00a0role\u00a0did not change the fact he was being removed from his current post. <\/p>\n

One of them is the current head of the Defense Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov,\u00a0a 38-year-old general known to have strong ties with Zelensky and seen as representing a new generation of military leaders. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in a war, and all sides are using all available means, including information warfare,\u201d the military spy chief added. <\/p>\n

One of Ukraine\u2019s most popular leaders<\/h2>\n

Despite the failure of Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive to make any significant progress in rolling back Russian forces in the south and the east of the country, Zaluzhny remains one of the most popular leaders in the country. <\/p>\n

A poll published by the Kyiv Institute of Sociology in December found 88% of Ukrainians supported the top general. Zelensky\u2019s approval rating, though also high, was considerably lower at 62%. <\/p>\n

The poll was conducted after differences between the two leaders had apparently broken into the open over the prosecution of the war. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust like in the First World War we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate,\u201d Zaluzhny had written in The Economist in November as it became clear that Russia\u2019s deeply-laid minefields, and overwhelming heavy artillery fire, had largely prevented significant Ukrainian success in the counteroffensive. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough,\u201d but instead an equilibrium of devastating losses and destruction, the army chief added. <\/p>\n

Those comments drew immediate criticism from the president\u2019s office. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf I were in the military, the last thing I would do is to comment to the press, to the public, on what is happening at the front [and] what might happen at the front \u2026 because then we will facilitate the aggressor\u2019s work,\u201d Ihor Zhovkva, deputy head of the president\u2019s office, said on Ukrainian television at the time. <\/p>\n

Zelensky did not openly criticize Zaluzhny, but told a live news conference in December: \u201cI am waiting for very concrete things on the battlefield. The strategy is clear: We have an understanding of our actions. I want to see details,\u201d Reuters reported. <\/p>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Launched in June, Ukraine\u2019s counteroffensive was its main effort to drive Russian forces back from the territories they have occupied since 2022, particularly in the south of the country. Ukraine had aimed to push south from the town of Orikhiv towards the Sea of Azov, splitting Russia\u2019s forces in two and cutting its land bridge to Crimea. <\/p>\n

But Ukraine\u2019s gains were modest. Its forces attempted to push from Orikhiv towards Tokmak,\u00a0but only made it as far as Robotyne, a little over 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) south. <\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s lack of progress led to a call from its armed forces at the end of December for a huge mobilization effort of up to half a million new conscripts. The request is currently before parliament. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a worthy general. Our government wants to overthrow him because he is not very convenient for them,\u201d the soldier said, adding, \u201cIt seems like \u2018Zelensky\u2019s guys\u2019 sold us out a long time ago.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rumors of the meeting, and Zaluzhny\u2019s dismissal, exploded around Kyiv on Monday evening, lent credibility by a rift widely understood to have opened up between the president and his commander-in-chief following the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive last year. Tensions are said to have risen in particular when Zaluzhny described the war with Russia as <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14933,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}