On Tuesday, December 26, Ukraine's popular chief of the General Staff, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi held a press conference, for the first time since the full-scale Russian invasion. Until then, his interactions with journalists could be counted on one hand. He had been thought to be on the way out after President Volodymyr Zelensky's political allies accused him of being responsible for the Ukrainian army's failure to repel the Russian invaders. The Ukrainian president, whose popularity has eroded significantly, said at a December 19 press conference that he was not convinced by the general staff's request to mobilize "450,000 to 500,000" men to relieve the troops who have been fighting for two years. Procrastination or a desire to shift this responsibility onto a potential political rival? In any case, Zelensky has still not signed the mobilization order.
Keen to set the record straight, Zaluzhnyi indicated that he had not given any figures on the scale of the mobilization, and reminded his audience that this decision rested with the government. He also spoke of his dissatisfaction with the recruitment system, which in his view has been incapable of enlisting enough soldiers to relieve those who have been on the front line for almost two years. In early December, he criticized the president's decision to dismiss all the regional heads of recruitment centers in one fell swoop, some of whom had been implicated in corruption scandals. According to Zaluzhnyi, this led to additional disorganization of the mobilization process.
During his press conference, the commander-in-chief clarified several politically sensitive issues, at a time when the army has been struggling to attract Ukrainians to enlist. In particular, the length of the term of service. "Together with the Ministry of Defense, we agreed on the figure of 36 months, hoping for two things," the general said. "The first is that there will be no escalation at the front. This is the first thing. And secondly, and most importantly, that these people would be replaced in 36 months." He added: "I hope that in 36 months we will be able to cope with the task of replacing those people who are really doing their job in extremely difficult conditions. And of course, I agree that after they are demobilized, they need some time to rest."
Zaluzhnyi, on the other hand, opposed the government's bill on the issue of unit rotation. "I demand from local commanders that they do everything possible and impossible to rotate the troops within the unit. But to legislate that we will move in this way – well, believe my 30 years of experience in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and almost 10 years of service, that this is still, let's say, a deception, which is probably unrealistic in today's realities," he stressed.
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