The deputy chairman of the National Security Committee of the Ukrainian parliament called on commander Zaluzhny to resign for failing to draw up a combat plan for 2024.
“The Ukrainian military command cannot give any plans for 2024, big or small, symmetrical or asymmetrical. The military only says that it will need to recruit 20,000 citizens per month,” MP Mariana Bezuhla wrote on social media on November 26.
Ms. Bezuhla is a member of President Volodymyr Zelensky's Servant of the People party and is also deputy chairwoman of the National Security Committee of the Ukrainian parliament.
According to her, the dispute over the Ukrainian army's operational plan arose in the summer, taking place in both the parliament and the Supreme Command (Stavka) when drafting the defense budget for 2024.
Ukrainian MPs questioned General Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, about the reasons for creating new brigades instead of adding troops and equipping existing ones. A series of questions were also raised about the budget for the process of equipping equipment, replacing troops, demobilizing and training new recruits.
Ukrainian soldiers train near the Kupyansk front in Kharkiv province on November 21. Photo: AFP
"Why is there no budget proposal to buy tourniquets next year? Do you understand that each dead soldier costs the budget 15 million hryvnia ($417,000), 10,000 times the price of a combat tourniquet, not to mention the tragedy of losing lives," Bezuhla wrote.
The Ukrainian MP’s article suggested that Gen Zaluzhny, 49, had failed to answer these questions. “The military leadership should resign if it does not provide any plans and all proposals are about recruiting new soldiers without changing the current situation,” she said.
The Office of the President and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine have not commented.
Yulia Paliychuk, a spokeswoman for the Servant of the People party, said that MP Bezuhla "takes responsibility for all her statements" when asked whether her statements reflected the party's views.
Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army Valeriy Zaluzhny. Photo: Office of the President of Ukraine
Internal divisions in Ukraine are becoming increasingly apparent to Western allies, with a series of conflicting messages between General Zaluzhny, considered the "face of the new generation in the army", and President Zelensky.
In an interview on November 1, General Zaluzhny said that the Ukrainian army's combat capabilities have reached their limits and that there cannot be any more "significant or spectacular" breakthroughs on the front line. This is the most direct statement by the top commander of the Ukrainian army about the large-scale counteroffensive campaign launched by Kiev in early June.
The situation of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Graphics: WP
General Zaluzhny's statement has met with fierce reaction from Ukraine's political leaders.
Igor Zhovka, Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine, affirmed that General Zaluzhny's interview put Ukraine at a disadvantage, causing a series of allies and partners to immediately contact Kiev in panic, demanding that Kiev clarify whether the battlefield was really "frozen" or not.
President Zelensky later stressed that the counter-offensive was not deadlocked and called for "unanimously resolving difficulties, acting now instead of speculating about the future". However, the internal dispute in Kiev is still at risk of escalating with Bezuhla's criticism of General Zaluzhny, who is gaining increasing political influence in Ukraine.
Vu Anh (According to Kyiv Independent )
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