Seymour Hersh reported yesterday that Zelensky was planning to fire General Fatso because the latter held secret talks with the West about the prospect of negotiating a peace deal.
Apparently, Fatso is planning on replacing Zelensky as leader of the Ukraine. This is, by sheer coincidence, exactly what I’ve been predicting for 18 months.
RT:
Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky wants to fire his top general, Valery Zaluzhny, over secret talks he has held with the West to end the conflict with Russia, Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has reported, citing his sources. He also suggested that some US officials want to help Zaluzhny in a “power struggle” with Zelensky.
Numerous reports have claimed that the president fell out with the general last autumn after Zaluzhny declared in an interview that Ukraine’s much-hyped counteroffensive against Russia had ground to a “stalemate” on the battlefield. The two are also believed to have had several other disagreements regarding military issues.
While Ukrainian officials have denied reports of Zaluzhny’s imminent dismissal, following a spate of reports in Western media, CNN reported on Wednesday that it could happen as early as this week.
In an article published on Hersh’s Substack on Friday, he offered a different version of why Zelensky was seeking to boot his top general.
The Ukrainian president’s desire to fire the commander, according to Hersh, stems from “his knowledge that Zaluzhny had continued to participate… in secret talks since last fall with American and other Western officials on how best to achieve a ceasefire and negotiate an end to the war with Russia.”
At the same time, according to the article, some members of the US military and intelligence community support Zaluzhny’s peacemaking overture and want reforms in the Ukrainian government.
Hersh noted that the concept outlined by a number of US officials insists that Ukraine must embark on financial reforms, root out corruption, and improve the economy and infrastructure. However, the journalist continued, citing one official, the real plan is “far more ambitious” as it “envisions sustained support for Zaluzhny and reforms that would lead to the end of the Zelensky regime.”
While not giving these same reasons, the Washington Post reported hours after Hersh published his blog that Zelensky told the White House he was planning to fire Zaluzhny.
It’s always seemed like there would come a point where Zaluzhny was put forward as a replacement for Zelensky. You can go back and find me saying as much, repeatedly. (It’s shocking how right I usually am about everything, truly.)
If Zaluzhny is being fired, the logical thing for him to do would be to take his loyalists and march on Kiev, in the same way that Prigozhin tried to do in Russia.
So, that will be fun if it happens in the next few days.
I can’t imagine that he’s going to leave willingly. Presumably, it wasn’t supposed to be published that Zelensky was planning to fire him.
This is standard stuff that happens when a country loses a war, by the way. Military men, who blame politicians for failures, are seen as trusted men and they generally take over the government.
It’s also notable that military men understand the horror of war, whereas politicians do not. Despite Zelensky’s costume perhaps making you think otherwise, he never fought in the war, and wasn’t involved with it. While being planned by Washington, with orders given by Zelensky, the war was entirely executed by General Fatso.