Zelensky considers replacing army chief

KYIV — In an interview broadcast on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was considering a “reset” to replace several senior officials.

Speculation has gripped Ukraine for weeks over suggestions that the president was about to dismiss the commander in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. The two have been at odds over the conduct of the nearly two-year conflict, Reuters reported.

But Zelensky said any changes went beyond replacing a single person to harness efforts to boost capacities.

“When I speak of turnover, I have in mind something serious that does not concern a single person, but the direction of the country’s leadership,” Zelensky told Italian state RAI television when asked about Zaluzhnyi.

“It is a question of the people who are to lead Ukraine. A reset is necessary, I am talking about a replacement of a number of state leaders, not only in the army sector.

“I am reflecting on this replacement. It’s a question for the entire leadership of the country.”

In an essay for The Economist last November, Zaluzhnyi said the conflict had entered a new phase of attrition. That drew a rebuke from the president.

Last week, as speculation over his dismissal intensified, he set out his case in a commentary for broadcaster CNN on new electronic means of warfare.

On two occasions in the past week, Ukrainian media issued a torrent of reports that Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal was imminent. In at least one instance, Zelensky’s spokesperson denied the commander had been replaced.

Questions were also raised over whether Zaluzhnyi had been offered an alternative job, like an ambassadorship, and who might replace him.

Two leading possible candidates were Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of land forces, and Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Ukrainian defense ministry’s intelligence directorate.