Authoritarian Zelensky: Ban Elections, Remove General Who is Your Greatest Rival
Ukraine's top clown fires top general who also happens to be one of his greatest political threat
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, announced Thursday that he will replace Ukraine’s top general Valery Zaluzhny, citing the need to “change approaches and strategy.”
Zaluzhny committed a mortal sin in Ukraine after he gave an honest assessment of the country’s failing war effort against Russia last November.
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“There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough,” he told The Economist. He continued, “The biggest risk of an attritional trench war is that it can drag on for years and wear down the Ukrainian state.”
Kyiv quickly jumped into panic mode and treated the comment as treasonous.
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Igor Zhovkva, the deputy head Zelensky’s office, said at the time: “The last thing I would do is comment for the press… about what is happening at the front [and] what could happen at the front.”
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Zaluzhny’s comments were a clear break from the official line out of Kyiv that Ukrainian forces were gaining ground.
Zhovka said Zaluzhny’s comment “eases the work of the aggressor” and stirs “panic” among allies.
Here are some of Zaluzhny’s comments that did not sit well with Kyiv:
“There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough.” (Politico)
“The biggest risk of an attritional trench war is that it can drag on for years and wear down the Ukrainian state.” (RT)
Just like in WWI, the two sides have "reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate." (Axois)
“The simple fact is that we see everything the enemy is doing, and they see everything we are doing. In order for us to break this deadlock, we need something new — like the gunpowder, which the Chinese invented and which we are still using to kill each other.”
Some analysts have noted that Zaluzhny could be a future alternative to Zelensky.
Scott Ritter, the former weapons inspector, told Judge Andrew Napolitano late last year that Zaluzhny could eventually replace Zelensky because he is more respected by Russia.
Vitaly Klitschko, the popular mayor of Kyiv and a potential challenger for Zelensky, accused the power-mad leader in December of turning Ukraine into an authoritarian state.
“At some point we will no longer be any different from Russia, where everything depends on the whim of one man,” he told German outlet Der Spiegel, in an interview.
“People [are beginning to] see who’s effective and who’s not. And there were and still are a lot of expectations. Zelensky is paying for mistakes he has made,” he said, according to The Independent.
He also accused Zelensky of lying about the war and unfairly criticizing Zaluzhny.
TRENDPOST: It is worth noting that Zelensky gave an extensive interview to Time magazine last month that was written by the same author who penned his “Person of the Year” tribute (Simon Shuster).
The recent article said Zelensky is still firm in his belief that Ukraine can defeat Russia, which is worrying some of his close advisers. One person close to Zelensky told the magazine that Zelensky is “delusional.”
“We’re out of options. We’re not winning. But try telling him that,” the adviser said. Shuster wrote that Zelensky’s belief is bordering on self-delusion, “verging on the messianic.”
In August, Swiss newspaper NZZ am Sonntag reported that an assessment by its country’s Federal Intelligence Service found that Zelensky was showing authoritarian characteristics and is attempting to eliminate his chief rival in next year’s election.
“In his attempt to eliminate Klitschko politically, Zelensky is showing authoritarian traits,” the intel report said, according to Swissinfo.ch. “It is very likely that Western states will exert pressure on the president and his entourage in this regard.”