President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine on Thursday appointed Valery Zaluzhny as his new ambassador to Britain, only a month after he eliminated him from his publish because the nation’s prime basic amid tensions between the army and civilian management.
“Gen. Valery Zaluzhny advised me that that is the route he want to take — diplomacy,” Mr. Zelensky mentioned in a video assertion, including that Ukraine’s “alliance with Britain ought to solely get stronger” with this appointment.
Mr. Zelensky made the announcement on a day when the British protection secretary, Grant Shapps, visited Kyiv. Mr. Shapps mentioned that his nation would provide greater than 10,000 drones to the Ukrainian Military as a part of an present army assist bundle that obtained extra funding, for a complete of about $415 million.
Questions on Common Zaluzhny’s destiny had abounded since he was faraway from his position final month. His dismissal was seen as the results of Mr. Zelensky’s frustration on the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive final summer time, but additionally presumably of his fears that the overall, a extremely popular determine in Ukraine, would possibly turn into a political opponent sooner or later.
Common Zaluzhny was changed by Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, then the pinnacle of Ukraine’s floor forces. The brand new commander in chief has since needed to oversee the Ukrainian retreat from the strategic metropolis of Avdiivka within the east and face repeated Russian assaults alongside a entrance line stretching greater than 600 miles.
Common Zaluzhny is nicknamed the Iron Common for his decisive management of the nation’s military at its most difficult occasions, together with the protection of the capital, Kyiv, within the first weeks of the struggle.
He then devised and spearheaded a long-expected counteroffensive within the south final 12 months. However the push failed to interrupt by way of formidable Russian defensive traces, and Ukrainian troops superior only a few miles. Common Zaluzhny provided a candid evaluation of the preventing in November, noting that it had reached a stalemate.
Common Zaluzhny retained excessive ranges of help even after the counteroffensive failed. In the meantime, Mr. Zelensky’s rankings began to fall, prompting some in Ukraine to treat them as political rivals.
Although Common Zaluzhny has by no means publicly expressed his want to enter politics, political analysts on Thursday interpreted his new appointment as a doable maneuver by Mr. Zelensky to distance him from home affairs.
“That’s a political transfer,” mentioned Mykola Davydiuk, a Ukrainian political analyst. “For Zelensky, the motivation is to dam him within the media, that he disappears from right here, that he’s not energetic.”
It’s unknown when Common Zaluzhny will take up his new publish as ambassador, and he made no fast public touch upon his new appointment.
