(Kyiv) Completely unknown to his compatriots when he was appointed head of the Ukrainian army a year ago, General Valery Zaloujny has become an icon of resistance to the Russian invasion.
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The 49e The massive, martial-looking man’s birthday in July had even turned into a collective declaration of love, with Ukrainians flooding social media with praise for the commander of their armed forces.
Children now mention his name in their games and the national edition of the fashion magazine vogue even devoted an article to this “legendary figure”.
“Thanks to Commander-in-Chief Zalouzhny, our confidence in ourselves and in our victory has returned,” ex-Transport Minister Volodymyr Omelian congratulates himself on Facebook.
The Ukrainians credit Valery Zalouzhny for failing Russia’s initial plan to bring Kyiv down early in its February 24 offensive.
The fierce resistance of Ukrainian troops prompted Moscow to withdraw its forces from the vicinity of Kyiv to concentrate on the East. This decline has brought to a record level (97% according to polls) the confidence of Ukrainians in the army, embodied by Mr. Zaloujny.
“It is not a confidence in a personality but in the armed forces”, estimates with AFP the deputy Serguiï Rakhmanine, member of the commission of Defense.
The American Magazine Time this year named Zaluzhny one of the 100 most influential people in the world, alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Valery Zaloujny has become the military spirit his country needed,” writes the American Chief of Staff Mark Milley, assuring that he “will remain in history”.
New military elite
Even though he hasn’t given any interviews since the beginning of the Russian invasion, that hasn’t prevented the Ukrainian press from being completely won over to the cause of the man they nicknamed the “iron general”.
Russian plans for “Blitzkrieg, changing Ukraine’s power and geopolitical orientation have been ruined,” Mr. Zaluzhny wrote on Facebook two weeks after the start of the invasion. “No matter how difficult it is for us, [cette guerre] will certainly not be a disgrace”.
For the analyst of the Ukrainian center Democracy House Anatoly Oktysiouk, Mr. Zalouzhny is “competent and does not have this old Soviet mentality” typical for the Ukrainian general staff. “He is patriotic, is not corrupt and has received a good education, especially in the West,” he notes.
Valery Zalouzhny was born on July 8, 1973 in a Soviet military garrison in Novograd-Volynsky, in northwestern Ukraine.
He follows a typical officer career with 24 years of military service under his belt, serving in every position from platoon commander to directing military operations against Moscow-backed pro-Russian separatists in the east, starting in 2014 .
Appointed head of the Northern Command of Ground Troops in 2019, he was promoted to Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by President Zelensky in July 2021.
Political jealousy?
The general then has as a priority the reform of the army to move away from Soviet military traditions and get closer to the standards of NATO, the alliance that Ukraine aims to join, to the chagrin of its Russian neighbor.
Highlighting the key role of a young generation of officers with combat experience against separatists in the east, he urged the Ukrainian military command to “use all means” to “preserve the life and health” of their soldiers.
A few months after his appointment, he warned against the “threat of a major aggression” from Moscow in one of his rare interviews. “We must prepare for it,” prophesied this father of two daughters, including a soldier.
His dazzling popularity has even earned him, according to several media, the jealousy of the president’s entourage, even if Mr. Zaloujny has never expressed political ambitions and his speaking out remains very limited.
In early July, Mr. Zelensky for the first time criticized a decision by his army, which had announced restrictions on the movement of reservists between regions.
However, he immediately downplayed the impact of this criticism, assuring that it was “a detail, nothing at all”.
“There is no misunderstanding between me and the general staff” of the army, assured the president again on Wednesday. “We are showing great unity in the face of the Russian threat.”