According to LB.ua's sources, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decided to dismiss the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyy.
The Ministry of Defence published the following statement: "Dear journalists, we are answering all of you at once: No, this is not true." The ministry did not specify who exactly it was.
There is no official information about Zaluzhnyy's dismissal. There is no such decree on the president's website either.
According to UP's sources, the Presidential Office is considering Zaluzhnyy's resignation, but there is no decree yet. Interfax-Ukraine, citing its sources, reported that an agreement on Zaluzhnyy's possible dismissal "was reached during a meeting between Zaluzhnyy and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy."
Later, UP quoted presidential spokesman Serhiy Nikiforov as denying the dismissal. When asked whether the president had dismissed Zaluzhnyy, Nikiforov said "definitely not".
The media also reported that the current head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, had been appointed to replace Zaluzhnyy, but he did not confirm this in a conversation with LB.ua.
· Zaluzhnyy was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces on 27 July 2021. Prior to that, he had been in charge of the Operational Command North since December 2019.
· Both Ukrainian and Western media have written about a possible conflict between the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and the Commander-in-Chief. The speculations became especially frequent after the results of the Ukrainian summer offensive.
· In the summer of 2022, Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Presidential Office, already denied rumours of Zaluzhnyy's possible resignation and transfer to the post of defence minister.
· Zaluzhnyy became a subject of even hotter political debates after his column and interview with The Economist, where he said that the war had reached a deadlock.
· Yermak's deputy, Ihor Zhovkva, said that after the publication, "he was asked in a panic" whether we were at a dead end. He also decided to recommend that the military "comment less" on the events at the front.
· In response to the article, President Zelenskyy insisted that there was no stalemate.
· He also believes that the involvement of generals in politics threatens national unity.
· In December, Defence Minister Umerov said that there were no plans to dismiss/replace Zaluzhnyy.
· Also in December, Zelenskyy told journalists that he had a "working relationship" with Zaluzhnyy. "He has to be responsible for the result on the battlefield as the Commander-in-Chief together with the General Staff, there are many issues there," the president said.