Ukraine’s top general runs out of road both in Kyiv and in Washington
Valery Zaluzhny has a target on his back for the Ukrainian military’s failure to make more progress against the Russian last year.
politico.eu
His replacement is Syrsky.
Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of land forces, and Kyrylo Budanov, head of the defence ministry's intelligence directorate, are "the two leading candidates to replace Zaluzhny", said Al Jazeera.
However, Syrsky, 58, is "widely disliked" among Ukraine's soldiers, said the FT's Miller, as they blame him for unnecessary loss of weapons and lives. Budanov, 38, "does not have the experience of Zaluzhny and Syrsky as an army commander", and his "famously brazen tactics" have put Kyiv's allies "on edge".
Crucially, neither can hope to replicate the "rapport" Zaluzhny has built with counterparts in Nato countries, said Freedman.
news.yahoo.com
It doesn't matter who leads Ukraine since they get their marching orders from the State Department. Zaluzhny is gone for diverting manpower from the doomed offensives to take Crimea in favor of building up defense lines, for talking openly about the current state of the war, and for back-channel ceasefire talks with the Russian military. Zelensky knows he is getting paid for trying to secure access to the Black Sea for NATO bases that were being built at the time of the war. |
