Some in Zelenskyy’s party want to oust Zaluzhnyi — NV interview

Yuriy Butusov, the Editor-in-Chief at Censor.NET, is convinced that the ruling Servant of the People presidential party wants to remove the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi from his post.

According to the journalist, a preparatory political campaign for this is currently underway.

In an interview with NV Radio, Butusov explained in detail why he thinks so, and also told how Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is trying to shift the responsibility for failures during the war onto Zaluzhnyi.

NV: I have to discuss with you what is happening around our military leadership. We saw almost identical messages from David Arakhamia, head of the Servant of the People party in the Verkhovna Rada, as well as Mariana Bezuhla, an MP from the same party. Both alleged that the military leadership has not presented an action plan for 2024. Bezuhla also called on Valerii Zaluzhnyi to resign. How do you understand these actions? Is this an attempt to find someone to blame for the fact that there have been no major advances at the front? Is this an attempt to take down Zaluzhnyi?

Butusov: Undoubtedly, what we see is a preparatory political campaign to remove the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces from his post.

We will see this from Zelenskyy’s interview in the British paper The Sun, and because Deputy Chair of the Defense Committee [Mariana] Bezuhla now posts criticism of Zaluzhnyi almost every day. And you and I understand that such things are a planned, organized campaign.

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But I would like to say that behind this, of course, are elections. By accusing Zaluzhnyi of “politicization,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy himself is preparing for elections.

Because we know that, in addition to political statements, the State Bureau of Investigation is building a criminal case concerning the “surrender of the south” of Ukraine which is exclusively considering the responsibility of the military command. That is, the responsibility of neither the country's political leadership nor the leadership of the SBU is being examined in the case – only that of the military.

Of course, this is an attempt before elections to remove responsibility for failures in preparation for the Russian invasion and the defense of the country, and to transfer this responsibility exclusively to the military.

NV: There are many surveys, both open and secret. And from these polls, in particular, both the ruling team and citizens can see how high support for Zaluzhnyi is. One must be very naive to think that these attacks will be positively received by society. Isn't it some kind of suicidal strategy to force the resignation of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces?

Butusov: I will tell you frankly: I am not interested in political nuances and approval ratings now. This is simply completely unacceptable, from the point of view of managing the defense of the country at a moment as critical as now.

Now, instead of discussing the issue of the competence of the top command staff at the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s HQ, at the Defense Committee and making balanced decisions... That is, criticism should be on the point. It should be absolutely based on some real problems that need to be solved.

Instead of professionally and competently organizing such criticism and considering the issue of responsibility, we see they are simply trying to discredit Zaluzhnyi and the military command, accuse them of politicking, even though they remain silent.

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You know, if generals are removed like this, there will be no conclusions, and the responsibility in the next appointment will be even less. This is a threat.

And the fact that the President, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, is doing this during such intense hostilities shows that, unfortunately, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief simply does not understand the situation and is not competently assessing events in general.

The question arises: is President Zelenskyy interested in winning the war at all? Because with this sort of management system, it is simply impossible. It is absurd to attack one's own subordinate military commanders.

NV: We are talking to soldiers who are on the front lines. Some say that certain things voiced by Bezuhla herself are true, when she talks about reforms that were not carried out in the Armed Forces. The big problem is that this is being voiced by Bezuhla, a person who is constantly in the public eye due to various scandals and spats. And conversations about problems in the army are highly politicized. What are the most important issues we should focus on now?

Butusov: You have given an assessment of multiple events.

First: there are many problems in the army. And, of course, we write about some of them, and not the others. They are of different scales and have different solutions. If we want to win the war, then it will be won by the quality of our leadership.[1]

And what can the quality of our leadership be when the Deputy Chair of the Defense Committee, instead of using the power and authority given to this Servant of the People by the citizens of Ukraine, discusses all the army’s problems on Facebook? Perhaps she should be a blogger? Because everyone should act within their remit.

The Defense Committee has extensive powers. They can listen to the problems that MPs write about and make decisions on them. In particular, they can recommend, for example, the dismissal of certain officials. For this, the MPs of the Defense Committee receive a salary from the taxpayers. Not for provocative posts on Facebook, because there are no solutions behind them. Why do it?

It's one thing when a blogger or journalist writes — they have to attract the attention of the authorities. Is the government starting to operate like bloggers? They have to make decisions. It is from them that we require decision-making, and not merely the identification of problems. Statements of problems can be made without them, even more if it is done at a deep enough level.

Therefore, we have a systemic problem: instead of making decisions aimed at strengthening our defense, the government is engaging in PR. Both Zelenskyy and the Servant of the People party are preparing for elections, and they want to blame the military for the fact that the country was not prepared for war.

Read also: Servant of the People party responds to MP Bezuhla’s call for Zaluzhnyi’s resignation

This is an absolutely dishonest and dishonorable position, which sows discord in the top leadership, and which will not teach anyone anything. Because if, after this discrediting campaign which Zelenskyy organized against Zaluzhnyi, the military leadership is then removed, then the next one appointed will think about how to please politicians within Servant of the People party. But no substantive decisions will be made. And our leadership’s responsibility will become much less, not more.

This is the problem of the war that Zelenskyy and Servant of the People started against the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

NV: We understand that all these conflicts are also related to the fact that the plans for 2023, unfortunately, due to many reasons, were not carried out on the battlefield, despite what our defenders at the front went through and continue to go through. How might we sum up the 2023 campaign?

Butusov: We saw that there is a gap in Ukraine. I have said this more than once. We have a gap between strategy and tactics; between wishes, promises, and achievement of results; between expectations and the planning of real steps. This is where we have a gap.

The fact that we did not achieve the results that we expected is the result of the fact that the expectations were too high and did not correspond to the real situation. This is a primarily strategic problem.

The problem of an incorrect, inadequate assessment of the situation by Zelenskyy’s HQ, which agreed to this offensive and which provided this offensive with resources, people, and reserves. But the planning was not comprehensive, not systematic, and it did not take into account the enemy’s strength. There was a serious underestimation of the enemy. This is the problem of our intelligence services, which did not provide this key assessment.

This is a problem with the work of the Intelligence Committee under the President, which did not provide the Supreme Commander-in-Chief with a comprehensive assessment of the situation, as well as the HUR [Defense Intelligence].

If we take into account the enemy’s forces and their construction defense systems, of course, the offensive actions needed to have been planned (as is obvious by now) in a different way. This is recognized by the military itself.

But I say again: this is a big global problem of administering the war. The problem of the gap between strategic ideas and their implementation.

This problem is very acute for us, and its solution requires trust. Trust in all service levels: trust between the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and Commander-in-Chief, between civil and military institutions, between our allies, and with our intelligence services.

And instead of creating this trust, Zelenskyy himself is destroying and undermining it. It is simply crazy to do such a thing during such a difficult situation. I am very critical of these actions by these "servants of the people" and the President’s Office.

NV: How would you characterize the situation in which we have found ourselves at the beginning of winter? What can we expect?

Butusov: We are currently fighting a difficult positional war. Our advance has stopped not because the weather has prevented us, but because we are advancing against an enemy who is superior to us in strength. We have been conducting combat operations against an enemy who outnumbers us throughout the entire war.

Therefore, of course, if we want to achieve certain operational goals, we must consider the enemy's advantage factors and think of how to neutralize them, as well as how to boost our strong sides in this positional war, reduce our losses, and increase the enemy’s.

All this requires systemic solutions not only from the military, about which the political leadership is constantly silent. Resources are required. An army without resources – without ammunition, logistics, and weapons – cannot produce results.

Systemic qualitative changes in the mobilization system are also needed – someone must do this, too. There are people responsible for this, as set forth by the Constitution. First of all, the main responsibility for leadership now rests with the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It concentrates all power and management of all defense forces. Therefore, of course, there must be an initiative from them. The military has limited powers, and even during a total war they have no influence on many things.

Instead of making strategic decisions, we see that we have political intrigues. That's all.

And look at the front. Our military is watching as the enemy systematically digs defensive lines along the entire front line, despite the fact that he outnumbers us. And Ukraine is conceding this and not digging defense structures, because this involves a large amount of equipment, personnel, and construction materials that the army does not have, but which the government must mobilize. Russian authorities are doing this, but Ukrainian authorities do not.

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Most of the drones that are going to the front in our country at the moment are donated by volunteers. It is Ukrainians who are collecting [aid] for our soldiers. Both strike FPVs [first-person-vier drones] and reconnaissance Mavics, the vast majority come from volunteers. But looking at Russia, the vast majority of drones come from the state, they are financing it.

A gap is emerging: this a bad authoritarian Russia, which does not have such intellectual resources, or much support in the world, is gradually – due to greater systematization and organization at the highest level – creating an advantage where at first, it seems, we had an advantage.

Unfortunately, we have conceded this. Our quality of management is worse, it must be admitted. And this can be seen in concrete things that everyone in the war sees.

NV: There is an analysis that Russia is an authoritarian country, which makes it very easy for them to build all these processes, while we are a democracy. Could this be the reason?

Butusov: No, I don't think so. Our form of government is flexible enough. The problem is not democracy, but the incompetence of the top political leadership, which is not drawing any conclusions.

Sure, we might not understand something. I am fine with the fact that the country's leadership did not prepare for the war. But the full-scale war has been going on for more than a year and a half, and we need to learn from mistakes, from what everyone says, and from what is obvious. And we are not even drawing lessons. We do not have this practice.

Read also: Kyiv blames partial shutdown at Zaporizhzhya NPP on Russian ‘gross incompetence’

Instead of drawing conclusions, correcting mistakes, and starting to get ahead of the enemy, now President Zelenskyy and these "servants of the people" are looking for someone to blame for their own failures, which they themselves have made and are involved in. Unfortunately, this is our weak point. This is simply irresponsible and incompetent.

This is not a flaw of democracy, but simply a belief that voters and citizens of Ukraine can be deceived. This is what the authorities and the "servants of the people" are trying to do now.

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