Zaluzhny declared ‘political tension’ in Ukraine and criticized the authorities for the failure of mobilization

Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, has penned a column for CNN outlining his vision for a new war strategy.

The text appeared on the company’s website today.

Zaluzhnyi describes the difficulties Ukraine has faced both on the battlefield and due to the reduction in Western assistance, leading to depletion of weaponry supplies for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He also writes about the ineffectiveness of Western sanctions, which has allowed Russia to develop its military-industrial complex.

Furthermore, he directly reproaches Ukraine’s political leadership for its inability to ensure the process of mobilization into the army and highlights problems in the Ukrainian military-industrial complex, citing its monopolization.

“We must acknowledge the significant advantage our adversary has in mobilizing human resources and compare it with the inability of Ukraine’s state institutions to increase the strength of our armed forces without resorting to unpopular measures. Moreover, our country is still restrained by the imperfections of its legal framework and partial monopolization of the defense industry. This leads to bottlenecks in production, for example, ammunition, further exacerbating Ukraine’s dependence on its allies for supplies,” Zaluzhnyi believes.

He also mentions the existing “political tension” in Ukraine.

“We must combat the reduction in military support from key allies while dealing with our own political tension,” wrote Zaluzhnyi.

As a strategic solution to the situation where Ukraine lacks an advantage over the enemy in troop numbers or weaponry, he sees investing in drones, which, according to the Chief of Staff, completely change the “design” of modern warfare.

“It is crucial that unmanned systems, such as drones, along with other types of modern weaponry, provide the best way for Ukraine to avoid being drawn into a positional war where we do not have an advantage. This also opens up the possibility of delivering sudden, massive strikes on critical enemy infrastructure and communication nodes without deploying expensive missiles or manned aircraft. New operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces may include creating digital battlefields, controlling the electromagnetic spectrum, or conducting combined operations using attack drones and cyber assets,” Zaluzhnyi wrote.

In other words, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine proposes a shift towards a strategy that maximizes the use of drones to strike at Russian forces, as surpassing the enemy in terms of personnel and equipment seems unattainable.

“In his acknowledgment, in a society that may not want to expose a large number of young men and women to direct danger, remotely piloted drones represent a more acceptable type of combat action,” CNN comments on Zaluzhnyi’s article.

In the article, Zaluzhnyi publicly criticizes Ukraine’s political leadership for the first time, albeit without naming specific individuals. Combined with the mention of “political tension” in Ukraine, this is another indication that the Chief of Staff does not intend to leave quietly and disappear from Ukraine’s political and information space if Zelensky dismisses him.