Ukraine: Zelensky is heading for a broad dismissal campaign of the most prominent commanders of his army

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview broadcasted on Sunday that he is considering a reset to replace several senior officials.

There has been speculation in Ukraine for weeks over suggestions that the president was about to fire the popular army chief, Valery Zaloghny.

The two have been at loggerheads over performance in the nearly two-year-old war following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But Zelensky said any changes go beyond replacing one person to harness efforts to expel Russian forces.

“When I talk about change, I have in mind a serious matter that is not related to one person, but rather about the direction of the country’s leadership,” Zelensky told the Italian broadcaster Rai when asked about Zaloghny.

“It’s a question of the people who will lead Ukraine,” he added.

“Resetting things is necessary… I am talking about replacing a number of state leaders, not only in the army sector”.

Disagreements have emerged since the counterattack launched by Ukraine last year achieved limited gains against Russian forces stationed along the 1,000-kilometer front line in southern and eastern Ukraine.

In an article for The Economist magazine last November, Zalogny said that the war had entered a new phase of exhaustion, and this caused the president to rebuke him.

Zalogny won the admiration of the Ukrainians for his supervision of operations to repel the advance of Russian forces towards Kiev at the beginning of the war and the subsequent advances that regained large areas of territory in the south and northeast.

On two occasions last week, Ukrainian media issued a torrent of reports indicating that Zalogny’s dismissal was imminent.

In at least one case, the president’s spokesman denied replacing the army chief.

Questions have also been raised about whether Zaloghny has been offered an alternative job, such as ambassador, and who might replace him.

The two main potential candidates are Oleksandr Sirsky, commander of the Ground Forces, and Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.