Ukrainian army chief Valery Zaluzhny has laid out the primary challenges facing his country in its ongoing conflict with Russia, including the need for what he described as a “new state system of technological rearmament.”
“The challenge for our armed forces cannot be underestimated,” Gen. Zaluzhny wrote in a Feb. 1 opinion piece published by CNN.
The main challenge, he added, “is to create a completely new state system of technological rearmament.”
The assessment comes amid fevered speculation about a looming showdown between the popular general and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Mr. Zelenskyy’s office and Ukraine’s defense ministry have both sought to downplay persistent rumors of what some are calling an ongoing “power struggle” in Kyiv.
Nevertheless, the rumors have continued to gather steam, fueled by a spate of recent reports in both Ukrainian and Western media outlets.
U.S. officials, for their part, have refrained from commenting—on the record at least—about the reports.
The U.S. State Department has yet to respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment about the rumored dispute between the two men.
In his opinion piece, Gen. Zaluzhny did not address the spate of recent reports about his alleged falling-out with Mr. Zelenskyy.
Instead, he stressed the need to find “new ways and new capabilities to help us [Ukraine] gain an advantage over the enemy.”
“Perhaps the No. 1 priority here is mastery of an entire arsenal of [relatively] cheap, modern, and highly effective unmanned vehicles and other technological means,” the general wrote.
The use of unmanned offensive weapons, he added, “opens up the possibility of inflicting sudden massive strikes against critical infrastructure facilities and communications hubs without deploying expensive missiles or manned aircraft.”
Russia launched its invasion of eastern Ukraine in early 2022.
Almost two years later, Ukraine remains largely on the defensive, facing superior Russian firepower and deeply entrenched Russian lines of defense.
Last summer, a Ukrainian counter-offensive—directed by Gen. Zaluzhny—fell short of achieving its ambitious territorial aims.
Since then, Russian forces have continued to register limited gains along the 620-mile-long frontline.
Ukraine also faces the specter of waning public support among its chief Western backers.
In his opinion piece, Gen. Zaluzhny acknowledged that Kyiv had been forced to contend with reduced military support from key allies.
“Our partners’ stocks of missiles, air-defense interceptors, and artillery ammunition are becoming exhausted due to the intensity of hostilities in Ukraine [and] a global shortage of propellant charges,” he wrote.
On the same day the general’s op-ed was published, Kyiv received the welcome news that the European Union—after months of wrangling—had greenlit a 50-billion-euro ($54 billion) aid package for Ukraine.
In his nightly address, Mr. Zelenskyy hailed the E.U. decision as a “clear signal to Moscow that Europe will stand firm and cannot be broken by any destructive waves devised by the Kremlin.”
The move, he added, also sent a “clear signal across the Atlantic”—a reference to the United States, where a similar aid package remains held up by Congress.
‘Old-Fashioned Power Struggle’
This week, reports emerged in the Ukrainian and Western press that Mr. Zelenskyy had asked Gen. Zaluzhny to relinquish his post.On Jan. 29, Oleksii Goncharenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker known to be close to the general, told the British newspaper The Guardian that the latter had indeed been asked to resign but had “declined to do so.”
Both the Washington Post and Financial Times, citing unnamed officials, also reported that Mr. Zelenskyy had requested the general’s resignation.
On Jan. 31 CNN, citing “sources familiar with the matter,” reported that a presidential decree confirming the general’s dismissal would likely be issued within days.
Notably, Gen. Zaluzhny’s recent op-ed was accompanied by a caveat from CNN stating that he had written the piece “before an expected announcement of his dismissal.”
On Feb. 2, American journalist Seymour Hersh, writing on substack, claimed Mr. Zelenskyy sought to replace the general because he had engaged in “secret talks” with Western officials about a possible ceasefire deal with Russia.
To support his assertion, Mr. Hersh—in typical fashion—cited anonymous U.S. officials, one of whom referred to the rift between the two men as “an old-fashioned power struggle.”
Kirill Averyanov, a Russian political analyst, described the increasingly public dispute as “a process of testing the waters … at a very high level, involving [Ukrainian] lawmakers formally opposed to Zelenskyy.”
Quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency, he added: “This suggests that tensions between the president and his most senior military commander are affecting Ukraine’s entire political landscape.”
