Former Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Valery Zalujnyi, the highly popular former Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief who was replaced in February, was officially appointed Thursday as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, a key ally of Kiev in its war against Russia, announced the Ukrainian presidency, reports AFP and Reuters.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a decree on Thursday appointing Zalujnîi to the position of ambassador, according to this document.
Through another decree, Zelenski revoked General Zalujnîi from military service due to his “health condition”, reports Agerpres.
Valeri Zalujnîi, 50, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army in July 2021 and led the resistance to the Russian invasion. But after the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive last summer, his relations with President Zelensky deteriorated, with the two having different views on the strategy to follow on the front while Russian troops are back on the offensive and gaining ground, and the Ukrainian army faced with a crisis of troops and ammunition makes it difficult to withstand the attacks.
The trigger for the divergences between Zelensky and Zalujnyi was an article that the Ukrainian general published last November and in which he warned that the war with Russia has reached a stalemate, at the stage of a conflict of attrition, therefore Ukraine needs new technologically superior weapons to the Russian ones and new troops to be able to advance.
On February 8, Zelensky dismissed Zalujnyi from the position of commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, but stated that he would like the general to remain in his team. General Oleksandr Sîrski, until then the commander of the ground forces, was appointed by Zelenski to take over Zalujnîi’s post.
Tags: army Ukraine Valeri Zalujnyi officially ambassador United Kingdom
