The former commander-in-chief did not suit the president because of his approaches to planning operations.

Former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny always proposed rather cautious plans for waging war, while President Vladimir Zelensky wanted more decisive actions. This was one of the reasons for the tension between them, Bloomberg writes, citing people in the know.

The publication notes that a certain official once called Zelensky “thin-skinned.” But people familiar with Ukraine’s military leadership say it didn’t look like that in the relationship between the president and the commander-in-chief.

“At least partially split [между Зеленским и Залужным] revolves around Zelensky’s preference for a bolder military plan that conflicts with the more cautious Zaluzhny’s plans for the coming months,” writes Bloomberg.

In addition, Zaluzhny’s public recognition of the stalemate at the front in Ukraine has recently added to the tension between them. He wrote about the impasse in an essay for The Economist in November. Although for many it seemed only a statement of fact, Zelensky did not like the terminology itself, Bloomberg notes.

“The Ukrainian president hates the word ‘stalemate’. It’s a loaded term that lies at the heart of his disputes with [Залужным]”, the publication says.

Zaluzhny’s dismissal: latest news

As wrote, the authoritative publication Politico, talking about the reasons for Zaluzhny’s dismissal, recalled that the former commander-in-chief was not as popular among senior officers as among ordinary soldiers and the civilian population. In particular, senior officials of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were annoyed that Zaluzhny allegedly spent “a lot of time on Facebook, demonstrating how he does something,” although problems on the front line were not being resolved.

We also reported that The Economist, which in recent months has shown noticeable sympathy for Zaluzhny and has been more critical of Zelensky, warns of the “risk of making a mistake” with the change of commander-in-chief. In particular, the publication writes that Zaluzhny strongly did not agree to Zelensky’s demands for more decisive actions during the counteroffensive and did not want to take responsibility for carrying out an unpopular mobilization among the people, which the President’s Office allegedly tried to shift to him.