A reset of Ukraine’s leadership is necessary and could involve several personnel shakeups beyond the military, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Feb. 4 interview, according to Italian media outlet Rai News.
Responding to a question about a rumored dismissal of Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, President Zelensky said he had a serious reset in mind that was not about a single person, but about the general direction of the country’s leadership.
The change could involve replacing a series of state leaders, he said, according to Rai News.
The article didnt say much to determine bias. I’d be careful though. I might be paranoid but bad news like this (strained relations, 78% approval of the general being changed) being global news is propaganda
They have a great reputation though. Their founding story is really cool if you aren’t familiar with them. Founded by journalists who were fired en masse for refusing to give up editorial control to ownership. And he for sure gave that interview. It’s also being reported by Ukrainska Pravda and Euromaidan Press. Both are well-respected and serious about not publishing anti-Ukrainian propaganda.
The stat checks out with the poll they cite - 72% had a negative view of Zaluzhnyi being fired; 90% saw him as the most trusted person in the military (if you search for “72” it’s the only hit).
It is weird though! No direct comment to Ukrainian media but they told the US they were firing him yesterday. Jake Sullivan said earlier today that they supported Zelensky’s right to make personnel decisions. Now an interview on Italian TV. At first, I kinda thought it was being leaked to pressure Zelensky not to fire him or maybe leaked to gauge reaction by Zelenksy. Now I’m just confused :)
Edit: also covered by The Guardian
There is a ton of ups and downs with this story in general. Rumors have been flying around for about two weeks now, so I am also confused. Some pro-Ukranian telegram channels have been broadcasting news about this heavily, some haven’t. It’s just odd.
The media could be inflating rumors, which is possible. I think it’s also possible that this is part of a misinformation campaign to bait Russia into another poorly planned attack.
The only reason why I even speculate about this being misinformation is that Russia has been openly broadcasting about another attack on Kyiv. If that is the target or not, a change in leadership is a good time to attack something. This news would accelerate troop movements to somewhere and could be tracked easily.
This is just theory crafting, and it’s not a theory that I have read anywhere.
And from the Kyiv Independent’s reporting, it sounds like they were asking anyone they could on background and getting completely contradictory answers from both the military and political side. But, I don’t believe the US would accept that they were firing him from some unknown in the Ukrainian government and I don’t think WaPo or Reuters would run stories based on nobodies (at least 2) in the US government.
So your theory that it could be a feint to bait Russia makes more sense to me than this being Russian propaganda.
If it’s not, you’d think they’d want to rip the band-aid off quickly to limit confusion though, given how widespread and pernicious Russian propaganda is.
… or make a super quiet transition and just announce it weeks after it was done. I would imagine that something like that couldn’t be hidden very well since spy culture in that part of the world is practically an open lifestyle.