In the West, they believe Ukraine’s next president will be Valerii Zaluzhnyi

Next year, Ukraine’s president will be former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and current ambassador to the United Kingdom, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

That was the prediction made by prominent The Washington Post columnist David Ignatius in his New Year’s quiz.

In his view, the former commander-in-chief will lead a “national unity” government after Volodymyr Zelensky resigns as president.

Other options in Ignatius’s quiz included:

• Zelensky is re-elected in elections that legitimize a peace agreement with Russia;

• the president becomes Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR), despite the exposure of his secret talks with Russia;

• Zelensky’s successor is Oleh Tatarov, a deputy head of Zelensky’s office who oversees domestic affairs;

• the new president is leading Ukrainian anti-corruption activist Vitalii Shabunin, running on the platform “Corruption kills. Wake up!”

Ignatius also predicts that the war in Ukraine will continue and become a “bloody stalemate.” Moreover, he suggests the war could expand after NATO forces shoot down a Russian drone that crosses EU airspace and creates the risk of a civilian airliner disaster.

The journalist also forecast that Ukrainian naval drones will deal a serious blow to Russia’s shadow fleet and halve Russian energy exports.

He does not believe in a peace treaty under which Ukraine would agree to a territorial compromise and promise not to join NATO. Nor does he believe that Ukrainian “Flamingo” missiles will strike the Kremlin, or that the Russian army will approach the Dnipro River.

Recall that last week, for the first time since the start of the war, Ukraine’s Central Election Commission resumed operation of the voter register.