Speculation mounted this week about an alleged rift between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the country’s top general, Valery Zaluzhny.
According to a spate of unconfirmed media reports, the latter has refused Mr. Zelenskyy’s request to step down as commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s military.
U.S. officials have largely refrained from commenting—on the record at least—about the reports.
The U.S. State Department has yet to respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment on the issue.
On Jan. 31, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland visited Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian officials.
Speaking to reporters after the talks, she stressed Washington’s continued support for Ukraine against Russia’s ongoing invasion, which will enter its third year later this month.
“We continue to provide security support [to Ukraine] in all categories, including new investments and new weapons systems,” Ms. Nuland said.
The veteran diplomat did not allude to the rumored rift between Mr. Zelenskyy and Gen. Zaluzhny.
Russian officials, meanwhile, have been less reticent on the issue.
“Of course, we’re following these reports,” a Kremlin spokesman said on Jan. 31, noting that there were “lots of questions.”
“But one thing is clear. The Kyiv regime is facing lots of problems.”
General Vows to Stay Put: Reports
On Jan. 29, reports emerged in the Ukrainian press that Mr. Zelenskyy had sacked Gen. Zaluzhny.In a social media post, Borislav Bereza, a former Ukrainian lawmaker, claimed the general had been “dismissed from the post of commander-in-chief.”
Mr. Bereza cited “sources” in Mr. Zelenskyy’s office—whom he did not name—to support his explosive assertion.
On the same day, British newspaper The Guardian quoted Oleksii Goncharenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker known to be close to the general, as saying Gen. Zaluzhny had indeed been asked to resign but had “declined to do so.”
Ukraine’s defense ministry was quick to pour water on the claims, which, in a social media post, it said were “not true.”
Mr. Zelenskyy’s office also denied the veracity of the reports.
Despite the spirited denials, however, rumors of a clash between the two men persisted.
On Jan. 31, CNN, citing two sources “familiar with the matter,” reported much the same thing.
One of the sources reportedly told the news agency that a presidential decree confirming Gen. Zaluzhny’s dismissal would likely be issued before the end of this week.
On Feb. 1, The Associated Press, citing an unnamed Ukrainian official, reported that Mr. Zelenskyy had asked for the general’s resignation at an “emotional” meeting on Jan. 29.
Since then, however, Gen. Zaluzhny has refused to relinquish the post, according to the same unnamed official.
The account is in line with other recent reports in both The Washington Post and the Financial Times.
Longstanding Tensions
Rumors of mounting tension between Mr. Zelenskyy and his army commander have percolated in the media for the past few months.Frictions first became evident last November, when Gen. Zaluzhny told The Economist that the months-long conflict with Russia had reached a “stalemate.”
His statements conflicted with rosier assessments posited by Mr. Zelenskyy, who has often claimed that Ukrainian troops are making significant headway against Russian forces.
Mr. Zaluzhny’s remarks to The Economist drew criticism from the president’s office.
“If 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,” Ihor Zhovkva, a Zelenskyy spokesman, said in televised comments at the time.
Since then, officials in Kyiv—along with pro-Ukraine media outlets—have sought to downplay the apparent rift.
“There is no conflict [between Gen. Zaluzhny and Mr. Zelenskyy],” Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov told the Kyiv Post in late November.
The rumors, he said, were nothing more than a “fictional construct.”
Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s intelligence agency, said the rumors were part of a Moscow-directed disinformation campaign aimed at driving a wedge between the two men.
“This is cheaper than waging war on the frontlines,” the Kyiv Post quoted Mr. Yusov as saying.
Battlefield Setbacks
Among Ukrainians, Gen. Zaluzhny is said to enjoy considerable popularity, especially owing to earlier Russian withdrawals from the Kharkiv and Kherson regions.But a much-vaunted Ukrainian counteroffensive last summer, over which the general presided, largely failed to achieve its objectives.
Since then, Russian forces have registered small gains in sections of the 620-mile-long frontline.
Last month, Russian forces captured the small village of Krokhmalne in Kharkiv, according to both the Russian Defense Ministry and officials in Kyiv.
Ukraine also faces the specter of waning support among its chief Western backers.
Within the past two months, the United States and the European Union have both failed to deliver substantial aid packages that they had earlier pledged to Kyiv, although EU leaders voted on Feb. 1 to approve $54 billion in support.
Meanwhile, according to local and international media reports, the two most likely candidates to replace Gen. Zaluzhny are Ground Forces Commander Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi and intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov.
On Jan. 31, Reuters cited an unnamed source who claimed Mr. Syrskyi had been offered the post but had turned it down.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify any of the claims made by sources—named or unnamed—cited by various media outlets.
