The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has denied reports of the dismissal of Commander-in-Chief Valery Saluzhny. “Dear journalists, we answer everyone at the same time: That’s not true,” the ministry said on Telegram in Kiev on Monday. The news had previously spread in the Ukrainian media that President Volodymyr Zelensky had fired Saluzhny; However, the corresponding decree has not yet been published. Zelensky’s spokesman Serhiy Nykyforov also denied: “This is not part of the discussion,” he said, according to the Ukrainian agency Interfax Ukraina.
The 50-year-old Saluzhny became commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army a few months before the Russian invasion in February 2022. Under his command, Ukrainian troops withstood the invasion and even recaptured occupied territories. The general is considered popular among his soldiers and the population. That’s why he was said to have political ambitions, which he denied.
