My name appears in news more often than the weather forecast changes in London - Zaluzhny
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine to the United Kingdom and former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhny notes that he has been appearing in the news too frequently lately.
"These days, my name appeared in the news more often than the weather forecast changes in London. Really. And sometimes with such creativity that I start to think there is a department that wakes up every morning with the thought: what is Zaluzhny thinking today, even if he doesn’t know it himself?" Zaluzhny said during a speech at Chatham House in London on the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale war in Ukraine.
He noted that the war in Ukraine has ceased to be "just a Ukrainian story" and has become a "laboratory of the future" that "does not ask if we are ready for the experiment."
The Ambassador noted that he thinks in "categories of responsibility, because technologies have changed the world, and responsibility determines whether the war will be the last or just an introduction to the next one."
Zaluzhny noted that in the current situation, any word of his "can be turned into a quote faster than a drone scatters a horde of orcs," but assured that he would not say "anything sensational" during the speech and would not make "any political statements for the headlines."
As reported, on February 18, Zaluzhny spoke out for the first time about "deep disagreements" and "tense relations" between him and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
"Tensions arose shortly after the full-scale Russia invasion in February 2022, and disputes often flared up between the two men over how best to defend the country… Tense relations reached a climax later that year when dozens of agents from Ukraine’s internal intelligence conducted a raid on his office," Zaluzhny said in the interview.
Zelenskyy replied that today it is "very inappropriate" to discuss the details Zaluzhny spoke about. "No one wins from this. After all, we are talking about our army," he said, adding that he had not spoken with Zaluzhny after the publication of his interview. Speaking about the political ambitions of the former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, the President noted that "one needs to focus on other things" because there is a war in Ukraine "and we must end it with dignity."
