London, United Kingdom. Former Ukrainian military chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi has described new details of his rift with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, adding to speculation about future elections after the war. Zaluzhnyi cited a 2022 security operation and blamed Zelenskiy for a major battlefield failure.
Remarks and political context
Zaluzhnyi, who served as Ukraine’s top commander until February 2024 and is now ambassador to London, told the Associated Press in an interview published on Wednesday that he felt threatened by a 2022 raid by security agents. He also blamed Zelenskiy for a major battlefield failure.
The comments add context to tensions that have been widely discussed in Kyiv’s political circles. Opinion polls have consistently shown Zaluzhnyi as Zelenskiy’s main challenger in any future election, although he has not stated an intention to run.
Zelenskiy, who is facing U.S. pressure to quickly secure a peace deal in Russia’s four-year war, has signalled readiness to hold elections when fighting ends.
Accounts of the 2022 raid and responses
Speaking in London, Zaluzhnyi said his office was raided in September 2022 by dozens of agents from Ukraine’s SBU security service, which answers to Zelenskiy. He said he called Zelenskiy’s chief of staff and warned he would deploy troops to protect his command centre, and said he had already called in reinforcements to Kyiv.
Zelenskiy’s office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on Zaluzhnyi’s remarks about the 2022 raid. In his nightly address on Wednesday, Zelenskiy did not directly comment on the AP interview but stressed national unity and the need to work together to ensure Ukraine’s survival, saying: “Any other politics in Ukraine is absolutely unnecessary at present… Personal matters (are for) later.”
The SBU press service told Reuters that an address used by Zaluzhnyi as a covert post had been listed in an unrelated organised crime case and that no searches were carried out.
What impact could these remarks have on expectations around post-war elections in Ukraine?