Colonel Khodarenok linked rumors about Zaluzhny's resignation to the Il-76 scandal
In Ukraine, a rumor is spreading again about the resignation of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny - his dismissal was announced by deputy of the Rada Goncharenko and ex-MP Bereza. According to media reports, President Zelensky personally offered Zaluzhny to leave the post, but the general refused to resign. The commander-in-chief himself posted a selfie from his office amid rumors. Why they started talking about Zaluzhny's resignation right now and what it threatens the Armed Forces of Ukraine - the military observer of the Newspaper understood.En" Mikhail Khodarenok.
The commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, against the background of information about his resignation, published a photo from his office together with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Sergei Shaptala.
On January 29, former deputy of the Verkhovna Rada Borislav Bereza and current deputy Alexei Goncharenko announced the removal of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from office. According to the Ukrainian edition of the Mirror of the Week, the country's president, Vladimir Zelensky, offered Zaluzhny to leave the post, but the general refused. The President of Ukraine did not offer any other position to the ex-commander-in-chief.
At the same time, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, against the background of rumors, published a Telegram post: "Dear journalists, we immediately answer everyone: No, this is not true," without specifying whether we are talking about the resignation of Zaluzhny. Zelensky's decree on the dismissal of the commander-in-chief has not been published at the moment.
Image source: Valery Zaluzhny/Facebook (the owner of the Meta company is recognized as extremist in Russia and banned)
What will Zaluzhny's resignation lead to?
There is every reason to assume that in the event of Zaluzhny's resignation, a whole series of resignations, nominations and reassignments will occur in the Ukrainian army.
And this, in general, should not be surprising. The new commander-in-chief will surely bring his team to the controls of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And any promotion of an officer (general) to a higher position, as well as his resignation, leads to a whole series of appointments and reassignments, the so-called personnel chains, which in any case must be closed.
Earlier in Ukraine, opinions were repeatedly expressed that after the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the following military leaders could take the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: Kirill Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Yevgeny Moisyuk, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, or Colonel General Alexander Syrsky, Commander of the Ground Forces.
Let's assume (solely as an example) that Syrsky was nominated for the post of commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, it will be necessary to prepare a submission for the general, who will head the Ground Forces instead, documents for the officer who will take the position of "replacing Syrsky" - and so on. It would not be a big exaggeration to say that such a personnel wave will reach the platoon commander.
In short, the possible resignation of just one General Zaluzhny will cause a downpour of reassignments in the Ukrainian army.
Why has the information about the resignation appeared now?
There are at least two versions about this:
First, the military and political leadership in Kiev had to somehow interrupt the surge of negative emotions that arose among the widest segments of the Ukrainian population after the destruction of the Russian Il-76M military transport aircraft with Ukrainian prisoners of war by anti-aircraft missile forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Moreover, it was necessary to impose such news on this incident in Ukraine, to come up with an event that would completely neutralize the negative sentiments that prevailed in Ukrainian society after the defeat of the Il-76M.
The second is that by stuffing information about the resignation of the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, quite possibly, another task was solved, somewhat smaller. There is reason to assume that Zelensky's draft decree on personnel changes in the army was casually shown to specific individuals, and then responsible officials of the head of state began to observe how information about upcoming changes in the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was spreading. And against this background, we drew conclusions for ourselves. In any case, this version cannot be completely ruled out.
Thus, it is advisable to postpone discussions about possible changes in the Armed Forces, changes in the strategy of conducting armed struggle, changes in the requirements for combat and operational training of the Ukrainian army until the official publication of the decree of the President of Ukraine on the change of leadership of the Armed Forces.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok