Reasons for Ukraine's dismissal of General Valery Zaluzhny

President Volodymyr Zelensky fired Zaluzhny on February 8, even as Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) warned the move could spark riots or mutiny. General Aleksandr Syrsky has been announced as Zaluzhny's replacement.
Officially, the US neither supported nor opposed Zaluzhny’s firing, with White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan telling reporters last weekend that “we’re not going to be drawn into that particular decision.” However, unofficially, Zaluzhny was blamed for Ukraine’s disagreements with the Pentagon over the 2023 counteroffensive, a source “advising the White House on military matters” told Politico.
British and American generals helped plan and execute a massive Ukrainian counteroffensive to the Sea of ​​Azov, but Zaluzhny abandoned the plan after just four days of brutal fighting and opted for tactics the Ukrainians were more familiar with. The anonymous adviser told Politico that the Ukrainians “just don’t care about American advice and they often conclude that we have nothing to offer them that is wise,” adding that many of the Pentagon’s proposals were ultimately “useless” because the Americans had no experience with this type of warfare.
While Zaluzhny bears heavy responsibility for this, the US “keeps yelling at the wrong person,” Politico’s source asserted, because he “was obstructed by Zelensky” and the President has the final say on military matters.

According to Politico, the pre-emptive strike resulted in “staggering human losses” without achieving any of its objectives. Since then, disagreements between Zelensky and Zaluzhny have become public. A Ukrainian analyst told the news agency that the Ukrainian leader also suspected General Zaluzhny of wanting to run for president, to the point that firing him was seen as a political necessity.
Syrsky, who is widely unpopular in the military, is considered politically safe because he is of Russian origin and has no political ambitions./.