Zelenskyy responds to criticism from former Ukrainian military chief

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy has said it is inappropriate to publicly debate the internal disagreements recently raised by former Armed Forces commander and now Kyiv’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

Speaking in an interview with AFP, published on the agency’s YouTube channel, Zelenskyy stressed that discussing such details serves no one’s interests.

“I simply believe that today it is not right to discuss the details that Valerii Fedorovych mentioned. No one benefits from it. After all, we are talking about our army… It is fighting today. And he will not look good if he continues to speak this way. Well, he said it, and that’s that,” Zelenskyy said.

Zaluzhnyi, who stepped down as head of the Armed Forces earlier this year, has recently voiced criticisms regarding military administration, prompting media attention and political debate in Kyiv.

Earlier, Ukraine’s former top military commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, now ambassador to the United Kingdom, revealed new details of a long-standing tension with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

In an interview with the Associated Press, Zaluzhnyi said he felt threatened by a 2022 raid on his office by Ukraine’s security service (SBU) and blamed Zelenskiy for the failure of a 2023 counteroffensive, citing insufficient resources and overly ambitious orders.

The comments highlight potential political rivalry, with polls identifying Zaluzhnyi as Zelenskiy’s main challenger in any future elections, though he has not expressed interest in running. Zelenskiy has emphasised the need for national unity and deferred personal political disputes until after the war.

By Aghakazim Guliyev