Reporter Wang Xiaoying.
The Russian-Ukrainian conflict has entered its second winter, and the battlefield situation has once again reached a stalemate, and the Ukrainian side has recently broken rumors of "generals losing peace" - the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, and the Ukrainian ** Vladimir Zelensky were revealed to have contradictions on issues such as conscription and war conditions. There is even an analysis that Zaluzhny, who has been commander-in-chief since 2021, is currently popular among the Ukrainian people, and if he decides to join, it may pose a threat to Zelensky's re-election campaign.
Zaluzhny data map.
Born in a military fortress.
Recently, the contradictions between Zaluzhny and Zelensky have been blown up over the conscription process. In an effort to combat corruption, Zelensky announced in August that he would remove all regional enlistment heads from their posts. According to the investigation, some of the relevant ** were accused of abusing their powers, illegally enriching themselves, and ignoring wartime prohibitions and transporting men who met the conditions for conscription out of the country. But on the 18th of this month, Zaluzhny criticized Zelensky's approach and lamented the dismissal of the directors of the conscription office, "They are professionals, they know what to do, but they left." Recently, the Ukrainian army has faced the problem of insufficient troops on the front line, and the leadership of the Ukrainian army hopes to recruit another 450,000 to 500,000 soldiers, but Zelensky said that it should be considered carefully.
Zaluzhny was not high-profile before, but recently the supreme commander of the Ukrainian army has frequently appeared in the headlines. At the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, there was a belief that the Russian army would win the victory quickly, and as the war entered a protracted war, Zaluzhny was considered to have contributed to this, so he became a hero in the hearts of many Ukrainians.
Zaluzhny was born in July 1973 in a military fortress in Ukraine because his father was a serving officer in the Soviet Union at the time. Interestingly, Zaluzhny dreamed of becoming a comedian when he was young, and Zelensky was born as a comedian before he entered politics.
Zaluzhny entered the Odessa Army Academy in the 90s of the last century, and joined the army after graduating with honors in 1997, starting from a platoon commander and slowly rising through the ranks, training platoon commanders, combat platoon commanders, training company commanders, trainee company commanders, battalion commanders and mechanized brigade commanders.
I never thought I could be the commander-in-chief.
In 2007, Zaluzhny was sent to the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, when armed groups in the region launched an attack on the Ukrainian army, and Zaluzhny led his troops to withstand the offensive. In 2014, a few months after he finished his studies at the National Defense University of Ukraine, Zaluzhny was sent to the front line in eastern Ukraine, where he witnessed the heaviest scenes of fighting. In the same year, after the Crimean referendum to secede from Ukraine and join Russia, Zaluzhny served as deputy commander of the forces fighting pro-Russian armed groups in eastern Ukraine, and then he first entered the public eye.
"For our army, the war started in 2014, but at that time I didn't know what the war in 2014 meant......I read a lot, graduated with honors, I knew everything theoretically, but I didn't know what war really meant. ”
Zaluzhny also served as Chief of Staff of the Joint Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and First Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and in December 2019 he became the Commander of the Northern Operational Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In July 2021, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by Zelensky, the first commander-in-chief in the history of the Ukrainian army who did not serve in the former Soviet army.
Zaluzhny probably did not expect that he would one day become the "first man" of the Ukrainian army. In a 2020 interview, he said, "Like an ordinary soldier, I performed my duties, took up my duties, got a position, and was transferred to another position. I never imagined that I would become a high-ranking general. ”
After serving as the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Zaluzhny dared to delegate power, abandoned the original centralized command model of the Ukrainian army, and delegated command decision-making power to his subordinates. At the same time, Zaluzhny has focused on developing and strengthening the role of non-commissioned officers in the army, forcing military personnel to learn English and advocating for NATO integration.
There are ** reports that Zaluzhny has a good relationship with his subordinates, likes to joke with his subordinates, and will not bully others. During the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, a soldier of the Ukrainian army was forced to postpone his wedding because he was sent to the **mut front line in the Donbas region.
Zaluzhny's impression to the outside world is that he is sober, rational and pragmatic. One of his former aides said that in the first few days of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Zaluzhny hardly slept and kept in touch with the front-line soldiers, "He talked a lot with the generals, and although the calls were concentrated, they were always calm." In an interview with Time magazine last June, Zaluzhny said that he did not explain many details of military strategy to Zelensky, "he does not need to know much about the military, just as he does not need to know about medicine and building bridges."
It was rumored that he was killed in an attack.
Zaluzhny's military talent has been fully reflected in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, some analysts said that when the Russian army approached the city of Kyiv, the Ukrainian army only had 3 brigades facing the attack of 11 brigades of the Russian army. It was also noted that Zaluzhny took a flexible approach, allowing the Ukrainian army to disperse into small units, and also allowing the commander to respond autonomously according to the situation.
Zaluzhny was featured on the cover of Time magazine in September 2022 and was named one of the "100 most influential people in the world" that year. In the pen of the journalist of Time magazine, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army is "Zelensky's last hope." Someone praised him like this: "When Zaluzhny walked into a room without a light, he was not the one who turned on the light, but the one who turned off the darkness. Others called him an "indestructible iron general."
Zaluzhny has also received special attention from the Russian side, and in May this year there were rumors that he had been hit by a missile, seriously wounded his head, and underwent a craniotomy. Later, rumors came that he had died. On May 25, an officer of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine released a **, in which Zaluzhny sat at his desk and thanked all Ukrainians in a video that was allegedly filmed on the same day. At the beginning of June, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine published several more photos of Zaluzhny attending military ceremonies in Kyiv.
It is said that Zaluzhny appeared at the wedding of a Ukrainian soldier in May this year.
Trust surpasses**.
According to the latest poll by the Kyiv Institute of International Sociology, the latest poll by the Kyiv Institute of International Sociology shows that the Ukrainian people's trust in Zelensky has dropped from 84% in December last year to 62% at present, while trust in Zaluzhny has risen to 88%. According to some analysts, Zelensky has seen Zaluzhny as a political rival.
In addition, the recent incident of an assistant in Zaluzhny being killed by a "birthday present" and the tapping of Zaluzhny's office and staff have raised more suspicions, which may be related to high-level conflicts in Ukraine.
Zaluzhny and Zelensky data map.
Now, people are watching whether Zaluzhny will get involved in politics. Some political analysts believe that Zaluzhny may succeed if he is willing to enter politics, "Zelensky is the leader who did not abandon the Ukrainians, and Zaluzhny is the defender of the Ukrainians." Our society needs such people".
However, some experts believe that after the end of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Ukraine will face serious challenges, and Zaluzhny may choose to stay away from politics. "Even without an economic collapse, Ukraine is likely to face a serious economic crisis after the war. It's going to be a completely different game. ”
There is also a claim that Zelensky may dismiss Zaluzhny because he is being challenged, but a source from the Ukrainian government said: "Zelensky simply has no time to be jealous, because he is focused on getting military assistance from his partners." ”
On the 19th, Zelensky said at a year-end press conference that he had a "working relationship" with Zaluzhny and was waiting for the military command to report on the details of the military operation. This is the first time that Zelensky has responded to rumors about "generals losing peace".
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