President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday appointed his former military chief, Gen. Valery Zaluzhny, to become Ukraine’s ambassador to Britain — a next step outside of the military for Zaluzhny a month after he was replaced, The Washington Post reports.
Zaluzhny was offered the post last month but didn’t immediately accept, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The appointment will be viewed as a resolution between Zelensky and Zaluzhny after reports that they had a strained relationship, in part because Zelensky was suspicious of Zaluzhny’s political ambitions. Zaluzhny, 50, remains extremely popular in Ukraine, rivaling the president, and this move keeps him in an influential role but as a diplomat outside the country.
Zaluzhny “told me that this is the direction he would like to take — diplomacy,” Zelensky said in a post on the Telegram social media app. “Our alliance with Britain should only get stronger.”
Ukraine’s ambassadorship to Britain — a critical posting as London has taken a leading role in supplying weaponry to Ukraine — had been vacant since July, when Zelensky removed Vadym Prystaiko. Prystaiko, an experienced diplomat, had criticized Zelensky’s “unhealthy sarcasm” during a television appearance.
Zaluzhny’s role as commander in chief involved some diplomacy — he often directly lobbied his foreign military counterparts for more weapons so they could convince their governments. He is likely to be doing some of the same in London, but after two years of commanding Ukraine’s war effort, Zaluzhny will be in a civilian posting and removed from any battlefield decision-making.
Zaluzhny was dismissed last month and replaced by Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, who had been Ukraine’s ground forces commander, in part because Zelensky felt that new leadership could rejuvenate the military after the fighting had reached a stalemate over the past year. But the move was unpopular with rank-and-file soldiers, many of whom respected Zaluzhny.