Sleepless Zaluzhny during the failed 2023 counteroffensive.
Is the Ukrainian electoral race on?
Valery Zaluzhny reportedly never liked Kiev regime leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
And, what’s more, ever since getting ousted as the head of Ukraine’s army and appointed as the country’s ambassador to Britain two years ago, Valery Zaluzhny has been considered as the top political rival to Zelensky.
Valeriy Zaluzhny will become the President of Ukraine next year – WP.
Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, said Zaluzhny will head a “national unity” government after Zelensky’s resignation.
Earlier, Radio NV said that Zaluzhny wants to step down as Ukraine’s… pic.twitter.com/C6b284Z4Yj
— Lenka White (@white_lenka) December 31, 2025
Associated Press reported:
“Zaluzhnyi, 52, refuses to discuss his political ambitions, saying he doesn’t want to risk harming national unity during a war with Russia that is approaching its fourth anniversary. Yet in a sign of his possible desire to run for the presidency – after the war is over – Zaluzhnyi spoke publicly for the first time about a deep rift between himself and Zelenskyy in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
Tensions emerged soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, and tempers often flared between the two men over how best to defend the country, Zaluzhnyi said. The strained relationship reached a boiling point later that year, when dozens of agents from Ukraine’s domestic intelligence service raided Zaluzhnyi’s office, he told the AP.”
Russia’s Medvedev predicts a big infght in Kiev:
“Here we go.
Zaluzhny has started his play and rolled up on the genital buffoon, blaming him for botching the 2023 counteroffensive.
The battle between Britain’s loyal field marshal and the second-rate clown has begun!… pic.twitter.com/frReWbvCEt
— Lord Bebo (@MyLordBebo) February 18, 2026
Zaluzhnyi calls the raid – reported on for the first time – an act of intimidation.
“Zaluzhnyi said that during the 2022 raid on his office he called Zelenskyy’s chief of staff warning him he was prepared to call in the military to stop it and protect the command center: ‘I will fight with you and have already called in reinforcements to the center of Kiev for support’.”
The Zelensky versus Zaluzhny rift is out in the open.
The dispute over the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive in 2023 exacerbated their conflict, he said.
Zelensky dismissed the general as army chief in February 2024, and appointed him ambassador to the UK, to distance him from voters in Ukraine.
“Polls consistently give Zaluzhnyi a slight lead over Zelensky in a hypothetical race. Zelensky’s once-robust popularity has waned as the war drags on. A corruption scandal implicating several of Zelensky’s top officials has eroded public trust, according to lawmakers and activists. Zelenskyy recently reshuffled his leadership team in an effort to restore confidence.”
Ukrainian sources in 2024 on how Zaluzhny treated Zelensky.
Zaluzhnyi says the plan he had crafted for the 2023 counteroffensive failed because Zelenskyy and other officials wouldn’t commit the resources it necessitated.
“The original plan was to concentrate enough forces into a “single fist” to retake the partially occupied region of Zaporizhzhia — home to a vital nuclear power plant — and then have them advance south to the Sea of Azov. This would sever a corridor of land the Russian army had been using to resupply Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014. Success required a large, concentrated buildup and tactical surprise, Zaluzhnyi said. What happened instead, he said, was that forces were dispersed over a wide area, diluting their striking power.”
A January Ipsos poll showed Zaluzhny with 23% against Zelensky’s 20%, making the General the favorite in an eventual election.
Read more:
Russian Intel: US and UK Working to Oust Zelensky and Enthrone Zaluzhny – Ukrainian General Is Portrayed in the Pages of Vogue
The post Zelensky’s Main Political Rival, General Zaluzhny Opens up About Their Rift, Blames Ukrainian Leader for Failure in 2023 Counteroffensive appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.