Volodymyr Zelenskyy pledges to shake up Ukraine’s leadership

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is considering a sweeping “reset” of Ukraine’s military and civilian leadership in an attempt to reinvigorate its war effort nearly two years since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

The Ukrainian president on Sunday evening confirmed reporting by the Financial Times last week and suggested that he was not only seeking to replace General Valery Zaluzhny, the popular commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, but also top government officials.

“Definitely a reset, a new beginning is necessary,” Zelenskyy told Italy’s Rai News. “I have something serious in mind, which is not about a single person but about the direction of the country’s leadership,” he said when asked whether he would dismiss Zaluzhny. He did not specify who else he would replace.

Zaluzhny has not commented on the report of his ousting and Zelenskyy’s latest remarks. But he has posted two selfie photos to his Facebook page with his chief of staff. “We still have a very difficult path ahead, but we can be sure that we will never feel shame,” Zaluzhny wrote alongside the photo he posted on Monday.

Zelenskyy’s remarks follow a week of speculation in Kyiv about the fate of Zaluzhny, with whom the president has had an increasingly strained relationship for more than a year. Tensions spilled out in the open in November when Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive failed to achieve its goals of retaking lost territory and cutting off Russia’s land bridge to Crimea.

Zaluzhny at the time said the war had reached a “stalemate”, leading the president to castigate him for using the term. But on Sunday evening, Zelenskyy seemed to have come to the same conclusion as his top general.

“As far as the war on the ground is concerned there is a stalemate, it’s a fact, [because] there have been delays in equipment and delays mean mistakes,” Zelenskyy said.

Last week Zelenskyy met Zaluzhny in a bid to mend ties, but the talks grew heated over the…