Zelenskyy on Zaluzhnyi’s interview: "I don’t want to play politics right now"
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commenting on the statements made by the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi in a media interview, stated that now is not the time for politics.
The head of state said this in an interview with Tagesschau, Censor.NET reports.
Details
The journalist asked the president if an "election campaign" had already begun following Zaluzhnyi's statements. Zelenskyy suggested that Zaluzhnyi himself should be asked.
He also confirmed that he had heard the former Commander-in-Chief's criticism.
"I believe that now is not the time for politics, because we are in a state of war. This is my position. Others have decided otherwise. We are a free country. We are fighting for independence and freedom," Zelenskyy said.
Dismissal of Zaluzhnyi
The interviewer asked whether Zelenskyy intended to dismiss the ambassador to the United Kingdom.
"Did it seem like I wanted to dismiss him?" the president asked.
The journalist recalled that Zaluzhnyi spoke about mistakes in planning the counteroffensive.
"Everyone knows my answer to these questions. I don't want to play politics now. I respect our army and respect how it fought at various stages of the war against Russia throughout all these years. I can say nothing more. I don't want to delve into this story. I'm not particularly interested in it," Zelenskyy concluded.
Zaluzhnyi's interview with the Associated Press
- As a reminder, the former Commander-in-Chief of the AFU and current Ambassador of Ukraine to the UK, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, gave an interview to the Associated Press, in which he spoke for the first time about the SSU search at the command post in 2022, political ambitions, and disagreements with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, specifically regarding the counteroffensive.
- According to Zaluzhnyi, the 2023 counteroffensive failed because Zelenskyy and officials did not allocate resources.
- President Zelenskyy, commenting on Zaluzhnyi's interview, said it was "very inappropriate" to discuss such details.
