Ukraine's ex-army chief reveals to AP a rift with Zelenskyy

[ad_1] LONDON (AP) — Ever since he was ousted as the top of Ukraine’s military in 2024 and appointed because the nation’s ambassador to Britain, Valerii Zaluzhnyi has extensively been seen as the highest political rival to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zaluzhnyi, 52, refuses to debate his political ambitions, saying he doesn’t wish to threat harming nationwide unity throughout a war with Russia that's approaching its fourth anniversary. But in an indication of his potential want to run for the presidency – after the warfare is over – Zaluzhnyi spoke publicly for the primary time a few deep rift between himself and Zelenskyy in a latest interview with The Related Press.

Tensions emerged quickly after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and tempers usually flared between the 2 males over how best to defend the country , Zaluzhnyi mentioned. The strained relationship reached a boiling level later that yr, when dozens of brokers from Ukraine’s home intelligence service raided Zaluzhnyi’s workplace, he advised the AP.

Zaluzhnyi alleges that the beforehand unreported incident was an act of intimidation. It risked exposing their rivalry at a time when nationwide unity was paramount.

Ukraine’s safety service, often known as the SBU, mentioned that no search was ever carried out at Zaluzhnyi’s workplace, although it acknowledged that the handle was a part of an investigation unrelated to him. Zelenskyy’s workplace declined to remark for this story. The AP couldn't independently verify Zaluzhnyi’s account of the raid.

Even years later, the revelation threatens to polarize public opinion in Ukraine at a crucial second within the warfare. Russian forces are making gradual, regular features throughout Ukraine’s jap entrance, and each side are clinging to incompatible demands because the U.S. presses them to succeed in a peace deal.

Zaluzhnyi mentioned that through the 2022 raid on his workplace he referred to as Zelenskyy’s chief of employees warning him he was ready to name within the army to cease it and shield the command heart: “I'll combat with you and have already referred to as in reinforcements to the middle of Kyiv for assist.”

Whereas that close to disaster early within the warfare handed, disagreements between Zaluzhnyi and Zelenskyy over tips on how to defend their nation persevered, in response to Zaluzhnyi, who mentioned he usually challenged the president’s army technique.

A dispute over a counteroffensive in 2023 that finally failed was notably contentious, the previous normal mentioned. Though Zaluzhnyi’s recognition with the general public had been cemented by a number of successes on the battlefield, Zelenskyy dismissed him as military chief in February 2024, and later introduced he could be headed to London.

The transfer was extensively seen by political analysts as an effort by Zelenskyy to restrict Zaluzhnyi’s potential as a political rival by distancing him from day-to-day affairs in Ukraine.

Polls persistently give Zaluzhnyi a slight lead over Zelenskyy in a hypothetical race. Zelenskyy’s once-robust recognition has waned because the warfare drags on. A corruption scandal implicating a number of of Zelenskyy’s high officers has eroded public belief, in response to lawmakers and activists. Zelenskyy not too long ago reshuffled his management crew in an effort to revive confidence.

The U.S. has been ramping up pressure on Russia and Ukraine to finish the warfare. Whereas a deal remains elusive , Zelenskyy has agreed in precept to a plan laid out by U.S. President Donald Trump that requires elections as soon as the warfare is over and safety ensures are in place.

‘I understand how to combat’ One night in mid-September 2022, as Ukraine was mounting an efficient counteroffensive within the northeast, Zaluzhnyi, then military commander, emerged from a tense assembly at Zelenskyy’s headquarters and headed again to his workplace in Kyiv.

Hours later, dozens of brokers from Ukraine’s safety service confirmed up at Zaluzhnyi’s workplace to go looking the premises, Zaluzhnyi mentioned. Over a dozen British officers have been there on the time, he mentioned.

The Ukrainian brokers didn't say what they have been on the lookout for, in response to Zaluzhnyi, who says he prevented them from rifling by paperwork and computer systems.

The raid was clearly a menace, Zaluzhnyi mentioned. Within the presence of the brokers, he phoned Zelenskyy’s chief of employees on the time, Andrii Yermak, and made a stark warning: “I advised Yermak that I might repel this assault, as a result of I understand how to combat.”

Zaluzhnyi then phoned the top of the safety service on the time, Vasyl Maliuk, to ask what was taking place. Maliuk mentioned he knew nothing in regards to the raid and promised to look into it, in response to Zaluzhnyi.

Later, he realized that Maliuk’s company had sought a search warrant from a district courtroom in Kyiv two days earlier to examine the handle the place Zaluzhnyi’s workplace is positioned. The company was looking for to go looking a strip membership allegedly run by a legal group, in response to a courtroom doc obtained by AP.

However the strip membership named within the submitting had been closed at that location since earlier than Russia’s full-scale invasion, two workers who work on the membership’s new location advised the AP.

The SBU mentioned it was wanting into a number of addresses as a part of an investigation into organized crime — unconnected to Zaluzhnyi. In an announcement, the company mentioned one of many addresses listed within the legal case turned out to be “a not too long ago established covert backup command submit” of Zaluzhnyi’s.

The assertion mentioned no search was carried out by the SBU on the handle and that the state of affairs was clarified after Maliuk and Zaluzhnyi spoke.

Zaluzhnyi believes the search warrant was a pretext and that the company couldn't plausibly have mistaken the placement of the nation’s most important warfare command heart.

Diluted placing drive The 2023 counteroffensive drew widespread criticism from army specialists for being too formidable and coming too late, giving Russian forces time to fortify positions.

Zaluzhnyi says the plan he had crafted with assist from NATO companions failed as a result of Zelenskyy and different officers wouldn’t commit the sources it required.

The unique plan was to pay attention sufficient forces right into a “single fist” to retake the partially occupied area of Zaporizhzhia — house to an important nuclear energy plant — after which have them advance south to the Sea of Azov. This could sever a hall of land the Russian military had been utilizing to resupply Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014. Success required a big, concentrated buildup and tactical shock, Zaluzhnyi mentioned.

What occurred as an alternative, he mentioned, was that forces have been dispersed over a large space, diluting their placing energy.

His account of how the counteroffensive diverged from the unique plan was corroborated by two Western protection officers who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they aren’t licensed to talk publicly to the media.

A diplomat with political intentions? Zaluzhnyi’s workplace on the Ukrainian Embassy in London displays his years as a normal. The partitions are adorned with posters of army plane, military medals he was awarded and youngsters’s drawings of battle scenes. There are toy drones on a mahogany desk.

Behind his desk, screens present real-time feeds from drones flying over the battlefield of jap Ukraine.

Zaluzhnyi’s key criticisms of Ukraine’s warfare technique are that it relies on an unrealistic variety of troops and isn't organized properly in the way it develops and deploys new applied sciences to the battlefield. He watches developments intently, however says he has not been concerned with army decision-making since Zelenskyy pushed him out. Zaluzhnyi mentioned he and Zelenskyy had “completely pleasant” conversations on the 2 events they met since then.

Some analysts say Zaluzhnyi’s lack of involvement in Ukraine’s day-to-day political affairs might weaken his recognition.

Nonetheless, an Ipsos ballot revealed final month confirmed assist for Zaluzhnyi in a hypothetical future election at 23%, in contrast with Zelenskyy’s 20%, making him the president’s high competitor.

Many Ukrainians see him as a determine able to altering the system, mentioned Volodymyr Fesenko, a political analyst primarily based in Kyiv. “Folks will vote not just for Zaluzhnyi but additionally towards Zelenskyy — blaming him for the failures of his presidency,” he defined.

Zaluzhnyi avoids discussing politics, he says, for concern of fomenting division amongst Ukrainians. “Till the warfare is over or martial legislation ends, I'm not discussing this and have achieved nothing towards that,” he mentioned.

Regardless of his reticence, numerous marketing campaign consultants, celebration figures and political insiders proceed to strategy Zaluzhnyi and provide to assist craft a marketing campaign.

Zaluzhnyi mentioned a “pretty well-known” American political guide approached him within the spring of 2025. An official near Zaluzhnyi, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren't licensed to remark publicly, advised AP it was Paul Manafort, who served as chairman of Trump’s 2016 presidential marketing campaign earlier than he was convicted in 2018 of crimes that included secretly lobbying for Ukraine’s former pro-Russian president, Viktor Yanukovych .

“I thanked him for listening to me, however mentioned that I didn't want his companies,” Zaluzhnyi mentioned.

Manafort, who was pardoned by Trump on the finish of his first time period, didn't reply to calls and messages from the AP.

___

AP author Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.

window.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init({ appId : '870613919693099', xfbml : true, version : 'v2.9' }); };

(function(d, s, id){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); [ad_2] Source link