Ukraine has a problem involving the precarious relations between the president Volodymyr Zelensky and the Chief of the Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny are just the most obvious error: It is obvious that by the end of the second year of the war, as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace writes, “not a trace of what came before remains.” Unity of the Ukrainian elite“, but the search for “someone to blame”. In fact, it often appears that everything General Salushny does annoys the Ukrainian president and gives him the impression that he is further undermining the consensus of his ousted boss 20 percentage points the territory occupied by the Russians since the beginning of the war. Zelensky, for his part, increasingly plunged headfirst into it military affairsto creation parallel communication channels with the commanders bypassing Zaluzhny himself. The history of Bed bugs in a room that should have been used by the general, and the game of demands and rejections by some deputies from the president's party for the resignation of the military high command has now crossed Ukrainian borders. With presidential elections expected to take place next spring, we are increasingly witnessing a tussle between those who want Zelensky to remain at the helm and those who instead aim to replace him. Maybe with the current commander in chief of the armed forces.
The Ukrainian divisions – To understand what is happening, we must start from the fact that Ukraine is more like Italy than Italy Russia: Every critical issue in the country becomes one political case on which, in war or peace, millions of journalists, politicians, influencers and ordinary citizens form an idea and want to express it. And so they divide, come into friction and finally create one Overproduction of political cases for which politicians themselves cannot find a solution. The reason lies in the fact that the Slavic country has reached a higher level of democratic political maturity than its northern and eastern neighbors, but manages it more like the European Mediterranean peoples than with the pragmatism of the Nordic nations. Leaders have done nothing to reduce the normal overproduction of political cases and the tendency towards division. A well-known Ukrainian journalist, Ostap DrozdovHe put his finger on the wound: “In Israel they built one in half a day Government of national unity This includes the majority, the opposition and men in uniform. Apart from the internal diatribes, no one has declared himself supreme ruler, king or sheikh of the entire country, which is now governed by a political-military cabinet, not by politicians seeking consensus.” In such a calm and sober climate, “went the head of state with a clean-shaven beard, in a pressed double-breasted suit, without any of that to the press.” Theater special effects like camouflage and tactical combat boots.”
Politicized communication – So, according to the famous drone warfare expert and volunteer Yuri Kasyanovpolitical chatter prevailed and cast a blanket of smoke: “We love to announce our offensives and discuss the details of the military operation live,” but also Look for culprits everywhere. The case comes to mind Hanna Maljarthe deputy defense minister was removed during a purge corrupt politiciansbut nothing at all to do with bribes and illegal favors: rather, she was kicked out because she falsely announced the release of Andriivka, where fierce fighting was still raging. Such negligence in politically controlling communications about the course of the war was defined by the military as “harmful, a threat to the lives of personnel and detrimental to operations.”
Hunt for the perpetrator: Zaluzhny – Kasyanov himself also spoke sharply about another aspect of relations between the civilian and military leadership: “There is war in Israel intelligence He caused colossal chaos and the army was surprised and ridiculed by firing 5,000 rockets. We in Ukraine, unlike Israel we knew about the war“Everyone had warned us, but we stubbornly failed to prepare for it.” Our thoughts turn to the ongoing civil justice investigation into the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces when Russian troops quickly crossed the isthmus with their troops on the morning of February 24, 2022 Crimea to mainland Ukraine. By noon they were already close Antoniv Bridge approaches Kherson and in a few days they conquered an area larger than Swiss. Since then, Ukrainian society has been obsessively wondering why this happened, why the bridges across the isthmus were not blown up, why the defenses were not properly prepared and why reinforcements were not sent in this direction. The case involved one soldier or another, but it is widely believed that he is being kept warm in order to attack General Zaluzhny himself at the right moment. Upon closer inspection, this is a case where they should normally be i Military courts to judge the actions of the uniformed personnel according to their competence, also because a lot of information must remain in the military area. Unfortunately, Ukraine has not yet developed these military institutions, police and judiciary and has to make do with them Politics at the center.
The domain of politics – This overexposure of politics in Ukraine occurs in a formal constitutional context Semi-presidencywhereby a president is elected every five years who, from an honest reading of his charter, appears to have no more power than Quirinale: It is only exercising it – in this historical phase – during a war that endangers the existence of the Slavic nation. The President of Ukraine has his hands tied regarding the cession of parts of the territory to achieve peace: according to Article 102 he is “guarantor of state sovereignty and territorial indivisibility” and according to Article 106 he is responsible “for independence”. of the state”. The fact that he is putting his feet on the generals' table is not surprising, considering that he is known – in a way that is essentially not very different from our head of state – as “Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” with the authority to appoint and dismiss “the high command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and other military formations.” In addition, it is responsible for decisions on the use of armed forces “in the event of armed aggression against Ukraine.” The high command cannot dictate anything to him in this regard either recruitmentsince the president is responsible “for general or partial mobilization and the introduction of Martial law“. In short, important decisions can only be made by politicians, with the risk that this is the case Search for consensus prevail tactical and strategic considerations.
The very popular general – Perhaps to shed this cloak of orders dictated for political reasons, Zaluzhny gave the famous interview to The Economist in which he spoke about the… Standstill of the war and the need for one military upgrade and technological of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. His honest soul-searching ended in chaos as soon as he unleashed the crimes jealousies of the leaders towards the man who for Ukrainians is “second only to God”, with a public consensus of almost 90% and almost 25% higher than that of Zelensky himself. On the one hand he warns him He said: “If a soldier decides to go into politics, then it is his right, then he should go into politics, and then he will not be able to face the war.” But on the other hand, he knows full well that if he were removed from command and thrown into the political arena, he would be almost unbeatable in the elections.
The most important dossier – Secretary of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian Parliament, Roman Kostenko, emphasized that the mobilization challenges are likely greater than the challenges related to ammunition shortages. It is a question that falls to the political, not the military, leadership – although Zaluzhny never misses an opportunity to insist on it – and concerns decidedly unpopular issues, such as: Restriction of the right of movement from one area to another. In short: issues on which Zelenskyy and the politicians can only get burned and in which they see attempts by the general to weaken their consensus. And the fate of political leaders, generals and the Slavic country will evolve on this issue in the coming months.