Zelenskyy reportedly forms direct links to top Ukrainian commanders, risks sidelining army chief Zaluzhnyi

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has created parallel tracks for communication with commanders of various branches of the military, which bypasses the Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, NV’s sister outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported on Dec. 4.

The parallel channels have supposedly been created to communicate with the commanders of the Ground Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi and the Air Force, Mykola Oleshchuk.

Direct contact with the commanders speeds up the work of the president but destabilizes the work of the Armed Forces chief, who learns some information from his formal subordinates only at General HQ meetings, if at all, UP writes.

Read also: Servant of the People party responds to MP Bezuhla’s call for Zaluzhnyi’s resignation

"You see, sometimes it seems that Zelenskyy has two types of Armed Forces: The ‘good’ ones, commanded by Syrskyi and other favorites, and the ‘bad’ ones, which are subordinate to Zaluzhnyi," said a person close to Zaluzhnyi.

“This is very demotivating for the commander-in-chief and, most importantly, prevents him from commanding the entire army.”

Read also: Some in Zelenskyy’s party want to oust Zaluzhnyi — NV interview

In November, discussions in Ukraine renewed regarding reported tensions between Zelenskyy and Zaluzhnyi, sparked in part by two high-profile articles from Time and the Economist magazines, as well as subsequent unrelated events.

At the beginning of the month, Zaluzhnyi said in a series of articles in the Economist that the war was entering a tiring positional phase for Ukraine. The President's Office then issued several statements indirectly refuting the top general’s statements.

Zelenskyy said in an interview that the situation at the front is difficult now, but he does not believe that the war has reached a stalemate. At the same time, he suggested a possible change in Ukraine's military strategy, without elaborating.

The Center for Countering Disinformation said that the Russians have launched a campaign to discredit Zaluzhnyi, trying to assure Ukrainians of a "split between the government and the military."

Zelenskyy's office has repeatedly denied there is any such conflict.

On Nov. 28, the Economist, citing an unnamed source in the Ukrainian government, reported on the deteriorating relationship between the president and the army commander-in-chief.

The Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ruslan Stefanchuk, later denied this.

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine