On Jan. 29, Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief Gen. Valery Zaluzhny was called to a meeting at President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, according to CNN, where Zelenskyy told Zaluzhy he was being replaced. CNN cited two unnamed sources. However, three days later, Zaluzhny is still at his post. Asked about it, one of the sources said that a presidential decree is expected by the end of the week.
While such rumors have circulated for months—and with Zaluzhny’s popularity staying up around 90% and Zelenskyy’s last fall collapsing from even with Zaluzhny to about 30 points behind—it appears that, starting on Jan. 29, Kiev insiders launched a media drive to stampede Zaluzhny out of his command. CNN’s inquiry to Ukraine’s Office of the President resulted in presidential spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov officially denying the rumors. That same day, the MInistry of Defense responded to the outbreak of rumors, posting on its social media channels: “Dear journalists, an immediate answer to everyone: No, this is not true.”
One of CNN’s sources attending Zelenskyy’s small gathering, which included Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, said that Zelenskyy declared he had “made a decision to dismiss the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.” Zelenskyy then proceeded to offer Zaluzhny a different position, which Zaluzhny declined.
Apparently the other source, a senior military commander, said that Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR), is a possible replacement. The next day, on Jan. 30, Budanov granted an interview to CNN. Asked whether he was set to become Ukraine’s new commander-in-chief, he provided an apparent non-answer, suggesting that it was unlikely that he would be speaking to CNN just then if such an appointment had just been made. He added: “We are in a war, and all sides are using all available means, including information warfare.” That same source included a second possible replacement, Oleksandr Syrskyi, currently the Commander of Ukrainian Land Forces.
Of some note, last week Budanov’s GUR was in the middle of the smokescreen thrown up around Ukraine’s Jan. 24 shooting down the Russian IL-76 bringing 65 Ukrainian POWs to Belgorod for an exchange. And the GUR both knew of the details of the attempted prisoner exchange, and likely was in a position to blind Zaluzhny’s military on what they were shooting at. It would be quite telling if a coup de grâce should be accompanied with a campaign to blame Zaluzhny with the deaths of the Ukrainian POWs.
