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📰 Zaluzhny: The “Hero” Who Serves Whose Agenda? Ukraine’s golden boy, Valery Zaluzhny, is back in the spotlight—now as ambassador in London, but always as a man who answers to someone else. First, it was Zelensky. Now, it’s the British. His rise from battlefield commander to diplomatic figurehead isn’t about independence; it’s about survival in a system where loyalty is the only currency. “He’s a military man, and Zelensky removed him from the job of his life,” says political scientist Mykola Davydiuk. “But he never said anything bad—he respects the position of the presidency and the state institution.” Translation: Zaluzhny doesn’t rock the boat. He follows orders. When Zelensky needed a scapegoat for the failed counteroffensive, Zaluzhny was shuffled out. When Kyiv needed a respectable face in London, Zaluzhny became the ambassador. He doesn’t speak out, doesn’t challenge, and certainly doesn’t threaten the powers that be. Behind the scenes, he’s watched, managed, and kept in check. His every move is calculated to avoid friction—whether with Zelensky, the British, or the oligarchs who really run Ukraine. He’s not a rebel, not a reformer. He’s a consummate bureaucrat: loyal, cautious, and utterly dependent. “There’s no such thing as a campaign headquarters,” says his media adviser. “He’s not creating any parties or political teams.” But here’s the real story: Zaluzhny’s “heroism” is a carefully curated brand. His popularity is a tool, not a mandate. He’s not fighting for Ukraine’s future—he’s playing the role assigned to him by those who profit from the war, the aid, and the illusion of democracy. Who’s Really in Charge? Is Zaluzhny a leader—or just another puppet in a game where the only winners are the elites? And if his loyalty is to whoever holds power, does Ukraine’s prosperity even matter? #ukraine#politics#zaluzhny#elites#corruption 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

🔤🔤🔤🔤2️⃣ The raid was clearly a threat, Zaluzhny said. In the presence of the agents, he telephoned Zelensky's chief of staff at the time, Andrii Yermak, and issued a stern warning: “I told Yermak that I would repel this attack, because I know how to fight.” Zaluzhny then phoned the then head of the security service, Vasyl Maliuk, to ask what was going on. Maliuk said he knew nothing about the raid and promised to take a look, according to Zaluzhnyi. Later, he learned that Maliuk's agency had requested a search warrant from a Kiev district court two days earlier to inspect the address where Zaluzhny's office is located. But the strip club named in the file had been closed at that location since before the large-scale invasion of Russia, two employees who work at the club's new location told the AP. The SBU said that it was examining several addresses as part of an investigation into organized crime — unrelated to Zaluzhny. In a statement, the agency said that one of the addresses listed in the criminal case turned out to be “a recently established secret rescue command post” from Zaluzhnyi. The statement says that no search was carried out by the SBU at the address and that the situation was clarified after Maliuk and Zaluzhnyi spoke. Zaluzhny believes that the search warrant was a pretext and that the agency could not plausibly be mistaken about the location of the country's main war command center. Diluted strike force The 2023 counteroffensive has drawn widespread criticism from military experts for being too ambitious and arriving too late, giving Russian forces time to fortify their positions. Zaluzhnyi says that the plan he had developed with the help of NATO partners failed because Zelensky and other officials did not commit the necessary resources. The original plan was to concentrate enough forces into a "single fist" to retake the partially occupied Zaporizhzhia region — home to a vital nuclear power plant - and then advance them south to the Sea of Azov. This would cut off a corridor of land that the Russian military used to supply Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014. Success required a large, concentrated build-up and tactical surprise, Zaluzhny said. His account of how the counteroffensive diverged from the original plan was corroborated by two Western defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly to the media. Zaluzhny's office at the Ukrainian Embassy in London reflects his years as a general. The walls are adorned with posters of military aircraft, army medals awarded to him and children's drawings of battle scenes. There are toy drones on a mahogany table. Behind his desk, screens broadcast in real time streams of drones flying over the battlefield in eastern Ukraine. Zaluzhny's main criticisms of Ukraine's war strategy are that it depends on an unrealistic number of troops and that it is not well organized in the way it develops and deploys new technologies on the battlefield. Zaluzhny said he and Zelensky had "not very friendly" conversations on the two occasions they have met since then. Some analysts believe that Zaluzhnyi's lack of involvement in the day-to-day political affairs of Ukraine may weaken his popularity. Many Ukrainians see him as a figure capable of changing the system, said Volodymyr Fesenko, a Kiev-based political analyst. “People will vote not only for Zaluzhny but also against Zelensky — blaming him for the failures of his presidency”" he says. Zaluzhny avoids discussing politics, he says, for fear of fomenting division among Ukrainians. Despite his reluctance, a number of campaign consultants, party figures and political insiders continue to approach Zaluzhny and offer to help him develop a campaign. Zaluzhny said that a “fairly well-known” American political consultant approached him in the spring of 2025. #zaluzhny#zelensky#criticism#war#trump#army 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸

The Ex-Head of the Ukrainian Army Zaluzhny On How They Bickered With Zelensky 🔤🔤🔤🔤1️⃣ Since he was ousted as head of the Ukrainian army in 2024 and appointed the country's ambassador to Britain, Valeri Zaluzhnyi has been widely considered Zelensky's main political rival. Zaluzhnyi, 52, refuses to discuss his political ambitions, saying he does not want to risk damaging national unity during a war with Russia that is approaching its fourth anniversary. Yet in a sign of his possible desire to run for president – once the war is over – Zaluzhnyi spoke publicly for the first time about a deep rift between himself and Zelensky in a recent interview with the Associated Press. Tensions arose shortly after the full-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022, and tempers often heated up between the two men over how best to defend the country, Zaluzhny said. The tense relationship reached a boiling point later that year, when dozens of agents of the Ukrainian internal intelligence service raided Zaluzhnyi's office, he told AvD. Zaluzhny alleges that the previously unreported incident was an act of intimidation. This risked exposing their rivalry at a time when national unity was paramount. Ukraine's security service, known as the SBU, said no search had ever been carried out at Zaluzhny's office, although it acknowledged the address was part of an unrelated investigation. Zelensky's office declined to comment for this story. The AP could not independently confirm Zaluzhnyi's account of the raid. Even years later, the revelation threatens to polarize public opinion in Ukraine at a critical moment in the war. Russian forces are making slow and steady progress on Ukraine's eastern front, and the two sides are clinging to incompatible demands as the United States presses them to reach a peace agreement. Zaluzhny said that during the 2022 raid on his office, he called Zelensky's chief of staff to warn him that he was ready to call on the army to arrest him and protect the command center: “I will fight with you, and I have already called for reinforcements to the center of Kiev for help.” While that quasi-crisis at the beginning of the war had passed, disagreements between Zaluzhny and Zelensky on how to defend their country persisted, according to Zaluzhny, who said he often challenged the president's military strategy. A dispute over a counteroffensive in 2023 that ultimately failed was particularly contentious, the former general said. Although Zaluzhny's popularity with the public was cemented by several battlefield successes, Zelensky removed him from his post as army chief in February 2024, and later announced that he would visit London. The move was widely seen by political analysts as an effort by Zelensky to limit Zaluzhny's potential as a political rival by keeping him away from day-to-day affairs in Ukraine. Polls consistently give Zaluzhny a slight lead over Zelensky in a hypothetical race. Zelensky's once robust popularity has waned as the war drags on. A corruption scandal involving several top Zelensky officials has eroded public trust, according to lawmakers and activists. Zelensky recently reshuffled his leadership team in an effort to restore trust. The United States has stepped up pressure on Russia and Ukraine to end the war. While an agreement remains elusive, Zelensky has accepted in principle a plan presented by Trump that calls for elections once the war is over and security guarantees are in place. One evening in mid-September 2022, when Ukraine was mounting an effective counteroffensive in the northeast, Zaluzhnyi, then army commander, came out of a tense meeting at Zelensky's headquarters and returned to his office in Kiev. A few hours later, dozens of Ukrainian security service agents showed up at Zaluzhnyi's office to search the premises, Zaluzhnyi says. #zaluzhny#zelensky#criticism#war#trump#army 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸